Team:Team of Conception et développement Michelin and Paul Scherrer Institut
They have created an energy efficient fuel cell vehicle, which can be driven for more than 350 km with zero emissions (consumption <25 kWh H2/100 km). The electrical powertrain also enhances the safety of the vehicle with active wheels for anti-roll and anti-pitch control. The vehicle can transport 4 people and can accelerate in < 12 s 0-100 km/h. The integration of a supercapacitor storage helps to recover braking energy and provide peak power to the car. The vehicle is powered by H2 and O2.
The application of a fuel cell in a car opens new design freedom to the entire car to increase efficiency of the car and reduce weight to minimize fuel consumption. The H2-tank is integrated in the floor of the vehicle and the optimized cooling circuit allows operation in a wide temperature range.
Individual: Can profit pollution free and efficient mobilityEconomy: A new product type which has to overcome at the beginning the cost issue but which has the potential to become a main driver to contribute to the reduction of dependency on fossil fuelsSociety: FC can be supplied with an energy carrier which can be produced based on renewable primary energy.Environment: Reduction in pollurtion and due to efficient energy use also one element to get a better balance between resource depletion and the demand of the societies.
The project is a partnership of the company conception et développement Michelin (CDM) and the Paul Scherrer Instiutut. The PSI delivered the fuel cell system and the supercapacitor unit whereas CDM was responisble for the vehicle design and realisation and in particular for the development and realisation of the electrical powertrain. The joint project help to transfer the know how research towards an industrial application of the technology.
For individuals the HY-LIGHT is an example which shows that a 2-liter car with similar characteristics of todays cars can be realsised technically. For society is is an example showing that for pollution and potentially fossil fuel free mobility is possible in case highet efficiency in the energy use is applied. For the economy the potential is shown a new product range. At the time beeing it has to be remarked that the cost issue and reliability is still a serious concern. For the environment the use of and H2/O2 fuel cell system emit no pollution other than water and the use of specific resources can be minimized since efficiency of the material use is optimzed with this concept.
It opens anoutlook to an individual mobility which is much more efficient in terms of the mass of resources needed and in terms of energy efficiency compared to the vehicles used today. It is clear that with the use of hydrogen as energy carrier the question of the production and distribution of H2 has to beadressed to. For this reason at the companies facility of CDM in Givisiez the production infrastructure of the H2 and O2 has been installed to be generated sun in the quantity to supply the car for approx. 20000 km/year. This installation has been realized with the electricity supply company groupe e.
The projects is a show case that the rethinking of a total systems helps to increase the efficient use of energy by optimizing the global system and not only a single part. It shows that the demand for individual mobility can be fulfilled with new solutions. The integration of the fuel cell-electric powertrain opens a wide range in optimization potential in the car which in the past had constraint because the use of an internal combustion engine.