Fuel consumption and emission comparison of conventional and hydrogen feed vehicles

Current environmental concerns on nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions caused by diesel engines have led researchers to be interested in investigating vehicles with alternative power sources. Because of this reason, vehicle models with SI engine were adopted in the conducted study. Firstly, as an initial step, 1-D SI engine models were created with use of AVL Boost software. A four-cylinder engine model was created for conventional vehicle model, while a two-cylinder downsized engine was adopted as a subsystem of hybrid vehicle model. The models were based on experimental data obtained from a laboratory test setup with a single-cylinder engine. Subsequently, detailed engine maps on emissions and fuel consumption were generated with the developed ANN model. The fuel consumption and emission data, which were gathered from NEDC and WLTC simulations, were compared for conventional ICE, PEM FC and PEM FC + ICE powered vehicles with the help of the vehicle model which was developed by using Matlab Simulink software. Based on the results, it was concluded that there might be sufficient improvement in fuel consumption and significant improvement in emissions with the use of PEM FC that a hybrid driving system (PEM FC + ICE) can be utilized, and that emissions can be at 0 with the sole use of PEM FC.