Study on methanol-hydrogen engine in extended-range electric vehicles

The demand for clean and efficient new vehicle models is steadily increasing. Methanol-hydrogen engines use methanol as the main fuel and can recover the heat from engine exhaust to dissociate part of methanol into hydrogen-rich syngas. The syngas is recirculated back into the engine cylinder to improve combustion. Therefore, methanol-hydrogen engines have a higher energy utilization efficiency. This paper designed a methanol-hydrogen engine system based on a Miller cycle methanol engine. Bench tests showed that combusting methanol and dissociated methanol gas together could accelerate the fuel burn rate and improve the engine’s fuel economy. At a fixed engine speed of 2500 r/min, the BSFC of the methanol-hydrogen engine was reduced up to 5.55% compared to the original methanol engine. Further, a methanol-hydrogen extended-range electric vehicle powertrain model was built in Simulink. Simulation results indicated that, under the WTLC cycle, the methanol-hydrogen engine achieved a 22.60% reduction in fuel consumption per 100 km and saved 58.89% in fuel costs compared to the conventional gasoline engine. The methanol-hydrogen engine presented potential application in the extended-range electric vehicle.