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Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) differ from hybrid vehicles (HEVs) with their ability to use off-board electricity generation to recharge their energy storage systems. In addition to possessing charge-sustaining HEV operation capability, PHEVs use the stored electrical energy during a charge-depleting operating period to displace a significant amount of petroleum consumption. The particular operating strategy employed during the charge-depleting mode will significantly influence the component attributes and the value of the PHEV technology. This paper summarizes three potential energy management strategies, and compares the implications of selecting one strategy over another in the context of the aggressiveness and distance of the duty cycle over which the vehicle will likely operate.

Hydrogen Fuel cell vehicles, and techniques for fuel economy measurement and fuel economy calculations are considerably different from those traditionally used fro combustion engine vehicles.. Like gasoline or diesel hybrid vehicles, fuel cell vehicles typically use batteries or other power systems such as super-capacitors for load leveling. Thus, the energy transfer or consumption from these supplemental power sources to the drive train should be compensated for when determining fuel consumption or fuel economy. This paper addresses fuel economy calculations and testing for hybrid hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The impact of supplemental power systems to a fuel cell vehicle's fuel economy and the various methods to derive actual vehicle fuel economy with supplemental power system usage are discussed.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) appear to be a promising solution for the future of clean and efficient personal transportation. Issues of how to generate the hydrogen and then store it on-board to provide satisfactory driving range must still be resolved before they can compete with conventional vehicles. Alternatively, FCVs could obtain hydrogen from on-board reforming of gasoline or other fuels such as methanol or ethanol. On-board reformers convert fuel into a hydrogen-rich fuel stream through catalytic reactions in several stages. The high temperatures associated with fuel processing present an engineering challenge to warm up the reformer quickly and efficiently in a vehicle environment. Without a special warmup phase or vehicle hybridization, the reformer and fuel cell system must provide all power to move the vehicle, including ¼ power in 30 s, and ½ power in 3 min to satisfy the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) cycle demands.

The impacts of fuel cell system power response capability on optimal hybrid and neat fuel cell vehicle configurations have been explored. Vehicle system optimization was performed with the goal of maximizing fuel economy over a drive cycle. Optimal hybrid vehicle design scenarios were derived for fuel cell systems with 10 to 90% power transient response times of 0, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 40 seconds. Optimal neat fuel cell vehicles where generated for responses times of 0, 2, 5, and 7 seconds. DIRECT, a derivative-free optimization algorithm, was used in conjunction with ADVISOR, a vehicle systems analysis tool, to systematically change both powertrain component sizes and the vehicle energy management strategy parameters to provide optimal vehicle system configurations for the range of response capabilities.

An ADVISOR model of a PNGV-class (80 mpg) vehicle with a fuel cell / battery hybrid electric drivetrain is developed using validated component models. The vehicle mass, electric traction drive, and total net power available from fuel cells plus batteries are held fixed. Results are presented for a range of fuel cell size from zero (pure battery EV) up to a pure fuel cell vehicle (no battery storage). The fuel economy results show that some degree of hybridization is beneficial, and that there is a complex interaction between the drive cycle dynamics, component efficiencies, and the control strategy.

This paper describes an experimental study to determine the potential for fuel efficiency improvements offered by dedicated, high compression E85 engines with optimized powertrain calibration strategies. The study involved a prototype variable fuel engine that could operate using either gasoline or E85, and a high compression version of the same engine that was suitable only for E85. Fuel consumption and engine-out emissions were evaluated using steady-state engine dynamometer tests to represent urban and highway speed/load conditions. For each fuel and engine combination, the fuel efficiency and emissions trade-offs provided by varying Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) levels were determined. For the high compression engine, operation at lower speed/higher load conditions (producing the same power as the standard speed/load settings) was also investigated.