EXPERIENCE OF AVL AND NISSAN COMPANIES IN APPLICATION OF SOFC POWER PLANTS AS RANGE EXTENDERS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT VEHICLES

Abstract

In previous manuscripts we considered perspective of application of power plants based on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) as auxiliary power units for heavy truck automobile transport: we considered USA and European experience. High level of this technology promises was shown with description of economical and technical data. In current paper we consider the first world experience of SOFC power plant application as a range extender for electrical cars. This project was implemented by consortium of Austrian company «AVL» and «Nissan». Described light vehicle was developed and constructed to be demonstrated during summer Olympic games in 2016 in Rio (Brazil). Bio-ethanol manufactured from natural sources was used as a fuel for solid oxide fuel cell power plant. Constructed vehicle was equipped with lithium-ion battery pack as primary power source, solid oxide fuel cell power plant with power output of 5 kW was used as range extender to enlarge the range of vehicle in a way of battery recharge during operation and discharge due to road motion. This light vehicle was tested in road conditions. Range of trip using only lithium-ion battery pack was measured on a level of 120 km, introduction of solid oxide fuel cell power plant gave opportunity to extend this value up to about 600 km – in 5 times. Startup time of SOFC power plant described in this work was showed on level of about 40 min which is good enough for this application as solid oxide fuel cell power plant is not a primary power source and vehicle can start motion before start of SOFC system using batteries energy. These data obviously show high advantages of introduction of such system of battery pack with solid oxide fuel cell range extender in light vehicles. Keywords: automobile transport; car; solid oxide fuel cells; SOFC; power plant; range extender; electrical car.