Journal of Power Sources 196 (2011) 325–330 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Power Sources journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jpowsour Short communication Hydrogen fuel cell hybrid vehicles (HFCHV) for Birmingham campus K. Kendall a,∗ , B.G. Pollet a , A. Dhir a , I. Staffell a , B. Millington a , J. Jostins b a School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK b Microcab Industries Ltd., Bugatti Building, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK article info Article history: Received 1 October 2009 Received in revised form 27 November 2009 Accepted 2 December 2009 Available online 16 December 2009 Keywords: Hybrid vehicle Hydrogen polymer fuel cell 350 bar hydrogen Campus demonstration Drive cycle efficiency abstract The design of a campus mail delivery vehicle powered by 350 bar hydrogen feeding a 1.2 kW PEM fuel cell to charge a lead acid battery pack is described. Five vehicles supplied to the campus at the University of Birmingham to measure the performance and to evaluate relevance to fleet operations are discussed. It is shown that the performance is better than that of a standard diesel van in two drive cycles, one following an academic circuit around the campus, the other doing multiple mail delivery stops. The acceleration and drive cycle compliance are found to be adequate on campus and the efficiency is significantly better than the diesel. The need for extension of range and increase in power and acceleration to meet standard urban drive cycles is clearly demonstrated. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction A serious problem on University campuses across the UK is the large number of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with their consequent inefficiencies and emissions. For example, the University of Birmingham operates a fleet of 110 vehicles for deliv- ery and other duties, mainly diesel vans like the Ford Connect. The total fleet mileage is 2 million miles per annum contribut- ing 400 tons of carbon to the environment together with toxic emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydro- carbons (HCs) and particulates. On campus, the diesel vans display poor efficiency, doing 28 mpg on mail delivery cycles, corresponding to 0.26 km MJ -1 (SI units). This is considerably less than the 36 mpg for the standard urban cycle and 45 mpg for the combined urban and extra-urban cycles. The diesel Connect van is designed for motorway use and is not suited to a campus with a 20 mph speed limit, short roads and many stops. Battery plug-in electric vehicles should be more appropriate for this campus environment. The University therefore operates five battery plug-in vehicles including a John Deere truck used by the gardeners and a Mega pick-up in the Botanical gardens. The problem of these vehicles is short battery life caused by deep dis- charge. Fleet operations have shown that the lead acid batteries can fail in 2 years, an uneconomic lifetime. This paper considers ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1214142739; fax: +44 1214145377. E-mail address: k.kendall@bham.ac.uk (K. Kendall). URL: http://www.fuelcells.bham.ac.uk (K. Kendall). how hydrogen and fuel cells can be combined in a hybrid battery plug-in vehicle to give improved performance in two campus drive cycles. Hybrid hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been explored theo- retically in a number of previous papers [1–4] but most operational hydrogen hybrids have been combustion engine Prius vehicles [5,6] which continue to emit NO x . The purpose of this study was to introduce a new design of lightweight hydrogen fuel cell hybrid on campus, to test several vehicles in two drive cycles and to point out improvements necessary in future. An earlier paper [7] described the preliminary results. 2. Hybrid vehicle design 2.1. Power-train components To avoid the problems of pure battery electric vehicles (which suffer limited driving range and short battery lifetime due to deep discharges), the vehicle was designed with a fuel cell bat- tery charger which topped up the lead acid accumulator when the vehicle was idle. The 1.2 kW Ballard Nexa PEM fuel cell was used, as it was compact and relatively low cost, and provided the durability required for the demanding operating environment. The stack efficiency quoted by Ballard was 38% (LHV) at full power and 48% at half power inclusive of parasitic loads. This was consistent with measurements taken from the stacks installed into the vehicle fleet. Overall, fuel cell reliability has been excellent to date, providing over 2000 h of operation across the fleet and 2000 km travelled with no technical problems or observable degradation. Experimental 0378-7753/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2009.12.012