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Technology Validation of Fuel 

Cell Vehicles and Their Hydrogen 

Infrastructure

2013 Fuel Cell Seminar

Columbus, Ohio

Sam Sprik, Jennifer Kurtz, Keith 

Wipke, Genevieve Saur, Chris 

Ainscough

October 22, 2013

NREL/PR-5400-60876
2

www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_tech_validation.html

NFCTEC Analysis Approach

National Fuel Cell Technology 

Evaluation Center

NFCTEC

Analysis and reporting of real-world operation data
3

Relationship of Technology Validation Projects

Next Generation 

Hydrogen Infrastructure 

Evaluation (FY13 – )

Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle 

Evaluation (FY13 – )
4

Overview and Objectives

APC/Shell Pipeline station, Torrance, CA. Photo: NREL

• Validate fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and hydrogen fueling 

infrastructure in a real-world setting

• Analyze operational data to provide status and feedback

o Vehicles: Fuel cell durability, vehicle operation, range, fuel economy, efficiency, 

reliability

o Infrastructure: Capacity, utilization, station build time, maintenance/ 

availability, fueling, geographic coverage 

• Identify current status and evolution of the technology

• Objectively assess progress toward targets and market needs

• Use metrics to clearly evaluate progress

toward challenges

• Provide feedback to hydrogen and fuel cell 

research and development

• Publish results for key stakeholder use 

and investment decisions
5

Progress Toward Targets

Key Targets

Performance Measure Status* Ultimate (2020)

Fuel Cell Stack Durability 2,500 hours 5,000 hours

Vehicle Range 254+ miles 300+ miles

Fill Rate 0.77 kg/min 1.0 kg/min

Efficiency 59% at 25% Power 60% at 25% Power

*As reported in previous Learning Demonstration results

Objectively assess progress toward targets and market needs
6

Infrastructure Challenges and Metrics

• Location/Capacity/Utilization

o Challenge: Stations need to provide coverage to meet the needs of vehicle drivers in the pre-commercial stage as well as have hydrogen availability with minimal 

wait time

o Metrics: Station usage patterns and geographic locations

• Fueling

o Challenge: Vehicles need to be fueled in an acceptable amount of time

o Metrics: Fueling rates, times, amounts, back-to-back fills, communication... 

• Maintenance/Availability

o Challenge: Maintenance and other factors may cause station downtime and 

increase cost

o Metrics: Maintenance patterns, reliability and availability of stations

• Cost

o Challenge: Hydrogen cost is dependent on several factors including where produced, how delivered, efficiencies, and maintenance requirements

o Metrics: Energy cost, maintenance cost...

• Station Timing

o Challenge: Need enough lead time to build infrastructure to meet vehicle demand

o Metrics: Permitting time, building time, commissioning time...

Use metrics to clearly evaluate progress toward challenges
7

Key Vehicle Analysis Topics Identified

These key topics were 

selected based on review 

of past CDPs (99 total), 

targets, most common 

referenced topics, and 

DOE feedback

Critical

• FC durability

• Vehicle operation (hours, miles)

• Specs (power density, specific 

power)

• Range, fuel economy, and 

efficiency

• Fill performance

• Reliability

Important

• Drive behaviors

• Fill behaviors

• Power management

• Energy

• Transients

• Comparisons to conventional 

vehicles
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Sample FCEV CDPs

Miles

Fuel Cell Stack Count

Fuel Cell Stack Operation Hours

Average Calendar Days Between Refueling per Vehicle

Leverage experience and analysis 

from the Learning Demonstration 

(2005–2011)

Calendar Days

Vehicle Count

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >8
9

Station Locations

58 Online

12 Future

3 mile radius

6 mile radius

Los Angeles Area
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Dispensed Hydrogen per Day of Week

Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat 0

5

10

15

20

Dispensed Hydrogen [% of total]

Day of Week

Dispensed Hydrogen per Day of Week

0

5

10

15

20

9 kg/day avg

Daily Average [kg]

All Stations

Individual Stations

NREL cdp_infr_05

Created: Oct-14-13 4:29 PM | Data Through: 2013Q2
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Fueling Amounts per Time of Day

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Amount Included

14,920 kg

Fueling Amounts per Time of Day

Time of Day [hours]

Total Dispensed [% of Total]

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Max and Avg Dispensed [kg]

Total

Max

Average

NREL cdp_infr_16

Created: Oct-14-13 4:32 PM | Data Through: 2013Q2
12

Fueling Rates by Amount Filled

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Average Fuel Rate [kg/min]

Number of Fueling Events

Histrogram of Fueling Rates by Amounts

0 to 0.5 kg

0.5 to 1 kg

1 to 2 kg

2 to 4 kg

4 to 6 kg

Reference Line at 1 kg/min

2012 MYPP Tech Val Milestone

NREL cdp_infr_17

Created: Oct-14-13 4:33 PM | Data Through: 2013Q2
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Fueling Final Pressures by Application

250 and 350 bar 350 and 700 bar

Material handling equipment 

fuels at 250 and 350 bar 

Vehicles fuel at 350 and 700 bar 
14

CDP-XApp-08

Fueling Events per Hour by Application

MHE has a higher utilization per hour than 

vehicles and MHE infrastructure can supply 

insight into higher utilization performance at 

lower pressure. 
15

CDP-XApp-04

Fueling Rates by Application

Applications with more storage 

tend to have faster fueling rates
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Summary—FCEV and Infrastructure Projects

• Objectives

o Validate FCEV and hydrogen station performance against DOE and industry targets 

and vehicle needs

• Approach

o Collaborate with industry partners

o Continue to develop core NFCTEC and analysis capabilities and tools

o Leverage 7+ years of analysis and experience from the Learning Demonstration

• Results

o Completed data templates and NFCTEC security procedures

o Prioritized key analysis topics

o Interacted with auto OEMs on priorities, data sharing, and methods

o Updated database of stations, held project kickoffs, and completed analysis of 

current station data

• Collaborations

o Working closely with industry partners to validate methodology, and with other key 

stakeholders to ensure relevance of results

o Working with station operators and California organizations

• Future Work

o Identify new opportunities to document fuel cell and hydrogen progress publicly

o As new stations open and provide data, add them to the analysis to get a good 

picture of the current state of hydrogen infrastructure
Backup Slides
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Tracking Future Progress Against Previous 

Demonstration Results

Vehicle Performance Metrics Gen 1 Vehicle Gen 2 Vehicle 2009 Target After 2009Q4

Fuel Cell Stack Durability 2,000 hours

Max Team Projected Hours to 

10% Voltage Degradation 1,807 hours 2,521 hours --

Average Fuel Cell Durability Projection 821 hours 1,062 hours 1,748 hours

Max Hours of Operation 

by a Single FC Stack to Date 2,375 hours 1,261 hours 1,582 hours

Driving Range 250 miles

Adjusted Dyno (Window Sticker) Range 103-190 miles 196-254 miles --

Median On-Road Distance Between Fuelings 56 miles 81 miles 98 miles

Fuel Economy (Window Sticker) 42 – 57 mi/kg 43 – 58 mi/kg no target --

Fuel Cell Efficiency at 1⁄4 Power 51% – 58% 53% – 59% 60% --

Fuel Cell Efficiency at Full Power 30% – 54% 42% – 53% 50% --

Infrastructure Performance Metrics 2009 Target After 2009Q4

H2 Cost at Station (early market)

On-Site Natural 

Gas Reformation

$7.70 –

$10.30/kg

On-Site 

Electrolysis 

$10.00 –

$12.90/kg

$3/gge --

Average H2 Fueling Rate 0.77 kg/min 1.0 kg/min 0.65 kg/min

Outside of this project, DOE independent panels concluded at 500 replicate stations/year:

Distributed natural gas reformation at 1,500 kg/day: $2.75-$3.50/kg (2006)

Distributed electrolysis at 1,500kg/day: $4.90-$5.70 (2009)

Outside 

review

panel
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FCEV Data—FOA 625

DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) 625

• Objectives of FOA

o Provide FCEV vehicle data to NREL’s NFCTEC for analysis 

and aggregation

o Seek to validate improved performance and longer 

durability from comprehensive set of early FCEVS, 

including first production vehicles

o 5-year project duration; two phases

– “...to collect and submit dynamometer and real-world vehicle performance data to 

a DOE-sponsored third-party collection and analysis provider to provide statistically 

valid projections on key metrics including durability of fuel cell system”

• DOE negotiations in progress with OEM teams
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Infrastructure Data—FOA 626

DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) 626

• Four awardees announced July 18, 2012

• Project kickoff Jan 2013

• Data to be delivered to NREL’s NFCTEC in 2013

• Project to run for 4 years through two phases

• Will learn from state-of-the-art stations
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FOA-626 Awardees

• California Air Resources Board (Sacramento, California)

o One station with natural gas to hydrogen, 180 kg of storage, and 60 kg of 

back-to-back fills in under an hour (DOE award: $150,000)

• California State University and Los Angeles Auxiliary Services, Inc. 

(Los Angeles, California)

o One station at CSULA with 24-hour public access and will fill up to 20 

hydrogen-powered vehicles daily (DOE award: $400,000)

• Gas Technology Institute (Des Plaines, Illinois)

o Five stations with their compressor technology, public access, and will 

analyze operational, transactional, safety, and reliability data (DOE award: 

$400,000)

• Proton Energy Systems (Wallingford, Connecticut)

o Two stations that generate hydrogen from water through onsite solar- powered electrolysis and will collect data on operation, maintenance, and 

energy consumption (DOE award: $400,000)

o Also, second project to deploy an advanced high-pressure electrolyzer at a 

station and nearly double the dispensing capacity of its storage tanks (DOE 

award: $1 million)