The effects of different operating parameters on fuel rate for both batteries and ultracapacitors used as the storage device in a hybrid fuel cell bus

A feasibility study to convert RTC's bus fleet into fuel cell powered vehicles to help reduce pollution in the Truckee Meadows basin was funded by the Washoe County (Nevada) Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) and performed by a research team at the University of Nevada, Reno. Part of this study included researching both fuel cell powered buses and hybrid fuel cell with electrical storage powered buses.; The work presented here describes the design of a model to investigate the use of both batteries and ultracapacitors as the storage device in a hybrid bus that can meet the requirements of RTC's Route 9. The model setup, initial parameters, and results are discussed in detail. Different power plant sizes were investigated in this paper and it was concluded that the 80 kW fuel cell stack with 160 kWh of batteries resulted in the lowest capital cost and the best fuel rate (miles/kg H2).