The project “Integration of a 10 kW Fuel Cell in a Hybrid Range Extender Vehicle” had as main objective the integration of the fuel cell developed in a CTI project (13999.2 PFIW-IW) in a road worthy vehicle. Once fully integrated, the entire fuel cell system was tested and validated under real driving conditions and in all seasons. The collection of usage data under these realistic usage conditions was an important aim. These data have allowed in depth analysis of the real life, on-the-road behaviour of all the components integrated on the fuel cell system, an important step in the direction of a commercial product.
The vehicle, a Fiat 500 converted to electric power by Ökozentrum in Langenbruck, has successfully been converted to a fuel cell hybrid. The mechanical and electrical integration has been performed taking into account the very limited space available and all the necessary security requirements. The vehicle has been tested with great satisfaction by several drivers of PostAuto in Brugg.
The collection of usage data under real life conditions has been implemented and running without interruption from the first kilometres that the vehicle has run. The vehicle has been running for over 90,000 km during the course of the project. This comprehensive collection of log data has given us a valuable trove of information for debugging, understanding and optimizing the system. At present the log files make about 43 gigabytes of information.
In the course of this reliability testing several unexpected problems have presented themselves. These have been resolved or are now in resolution. Reliability testing is still continuing after more than 100,000 km.
