A review and research on fuel cell electric vehicles: Topologies, power electronic converters, energy management methods, technical challenges, marketing and future aspects

Abstract

The implementations of fuel cells (FCs) in the vehicle industry have gained great attention for the last few decades owing to simple utilization, silent operation, high efficiency and modular structure. Technological advancements show that the use of FCs in electric vehicles (EVs) will increase rapidly and cause a revolution, and will be an alternative to traditional vehicles in the future. Commercial vehicles, projects and research show that work is underway to ensure that FCEVs have sufficient performance advances for their daily transportation needs. However, the lack of a detailed study that will shed light on researchers working in this field is obvious. It aims to provide a comprehensive scientific publication on the current status and future expectations to engineers and researchers interested in this field. In the current study, numerous studies have been examined in detail and added as supplementary to the bibliography. In this context, FCEVs are classified under headings of configurations, systems components, control/management, technical challenges, marketing and future aspects. First of all, FC types and electric motors are discussed in terms of their application areas, characteristic properties and operating conditions. Power converters, which are voltage regulation and motor drive topologies used in FCEVs, are detailed according to the structural frequency of use, structure, and complexity. In the next sections, control issues for converters and technical challenges are branched for FCEVs. In final section, the current status and future aspects are reported using a large number of marketing and target data.