Development and Testing of a Drive System for Electric Vehicles

Simulation of drive systems incorporating fuel cells and batteries is prone to difficulties associated with the long load cycles and the nature of their operation. In this paper we present a practical experimental strategy for investigating the performance of a range of vehicle systems. Hardware is scaled using control methods and power electronics allowing various setups to be tested in real time while requiring minimal changes to the hardware. A fuel cell emulator based on a real 50 W fuel cell system is developed and results are given for a typical system.