Comparative Energy Analysis of the Conventional and Fuel Cell Electric Powertrains for a Medium-Duty Truck

This study investigates the impact of converting a medium-duty conventional truck powertrain to a fuel cell electric type. The powertrain proposed in this study is purely powered up with the fuel cell without any battery to reduce the cost and weight. To compare the performance of the conventional and the fuel cell electric powertrains, both are numerically modeled and analyzed in AVL software for the Urban Driving Cycle (UDC) at various cargo loads. The final drive transmission (FDT) speed and input and output torques are first matched for both powertrains. The power distribution analysis is conducted to evaluate the power consumption and powertrain losses at various cruising speeds during the UDC. Furthermore, the equivalent fuel consumption of both powertrains is compared with each other. By converting the powertrain to a fuel cell, the power required to run the vehicle at low, moderate, and high cruising speeds decreased by almost 68%, 30%, and 7.12%, respectively. Additionally, the results show that the conversion of a medium-duty truck powertrain to fuel cell electric is advantageous in terms of equivalent fuel consumption when the cargo weight is below half load.