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The Environmental Protection Agency has recently purchased electric dynamometers for use in emission and fuel economy testing of light duty vehicles. These dynamometers are equipped with a single large diameter roll (1.219 meter, 48 inch) and electric inertia/road load simulation capability. The dynamometers are required to pass a series of robust performance requirements. The evaluation of the system performance was based on data acquisition and analysis completely independent of the dynamometer's operational and analysis software. An independent test system was used for verification of the dynamometer's operational features, control, and error reporting software. Testing was performed following the dynamometer installation at the EPA National Vehicle Fuel and Emission Laboratory (NVFEL). EPA performed evaluation tests, analyzed the data, and graphically displayed the results using commercially available microcomputer hardware and programs.

The introduction of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and their new technology has created the need for development of new fuel economy test procedures and safety procedures during testing. The United States Environmental Protection Agency-National Vehicle Fuels and Emissions Laboratory (U.S. EPA-NVFEL) performed the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle fuel economy tests in November 2002 and then again in September 2003. It took approximately eight months to comply with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes related to safe handling of gaseous hydrogen and to design and implement the equipment changes necessary to measure hydrogen fuel economy. This paper will address the facility modifications, data acquisition instrumentation, test procedures and analytical equipment used to accommodate chassis-dynamometer fuel economy testing of a hydrogen-fueled light-duty vehicle.