The application of intermediate temperature fuel cell for the auxiliary power unit of the air conditioning system in an electric vehicle

One of the key research challenges in E-car technology is the air conditioning system, which draws up tremendous electrical energy from the battery system when in operation. A typical electrical vehicle would have a travel range of 150km, but this range may drop to 80km when the air-conditioner is switched on. To address this issue, on one hand, the proposed work discusses the possible ways to reduce the power consumption of air conditioning system in Electric Vehicles and the applications of intermediate temperature PEMFC as an APU. A typical intermediate temperature PEMFC operates at 150-250°C using ethanol as the feedstock. Ethanol is a promising fuel for future transport applications because of its low toxicity and high energy content [6.3 kWh/L, which is higher than H₂ (@1000 psi, 25°C, 0.18 kWh/L) and methanol (4.8kWh/L)].