Keith Wipke, Sam Sprik, 

Jennifer Kurtz, Todd 

Ramsden, John Garbak 

November 8, 2010

EVS-25

Shenzhen, China

NREL/PR-5600-49650

Entering a New Stage of Learning from the U.S. 

Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Demonstration Project

This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise restricted information

NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
Outline

• Project Goals • V hi l d H2 St ti D l t St Vehicle and H2 Station Deployment Sta• Performance Compared to Targets • Highlights of Latest Results and Progre

Highlights of Latest Results and Progre

• Summary and Future work 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 2 
National Renewable Energy Laboratory 3 Innovation for Our Energy Future

Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Learning Demo 

Project Objectives, Relevance, and Targets

• Objectives

– Validate H2 FC Vehicles and Infrastructure in Parallel

– Identify Current Status and Evolution of the Technology

• Relevance

– Objectively Assess Progress Toward Technology Readiness 

– Provide Feedback to H2 Research and Development

Burbank, CA station. Photo: NREL

Performance Measure 2009 2015

Fuel Cell Stack Durability 2000 hours 5000 hours

Vehicle Range 250+ miles 300+ miles

Hydrogen Cost at Station $3/gge $2-3/gge

Key Targets

Outside 

review

panel

Note: Project extended 2 years to 2011
National Renewable Energy Laboratory 4 Innovation for Our Energy Future

Two Teams Concluded Their Projects in 2009, 

Three are Continuing through 2011

Gen 1 Gen 2 Gen 1 & 2

Ford/BP and Chevron/Hyundai-Kia Concluded in 2009 

Gen 1

Gen 2

Gen 2

Gen 1

Daimler, GM, and Air Products Continue to Demonstrate

Vehicles/Stations within Project through 2011

(CHIP)
Vehicle Status: All 350 bar Vehic

Onl

y 700 bar Vehicles Continuing

Vehicle Deployment by On-Board Hydrogen 

160 140 

700 b d 700 

bar on-road 

350 bar on-road Liquid H2 on-road 700 bar retired 350 bar retired Liquid H2 retired 

120 

100 

80 

6040 20 

-

NREL CDP25 (1) Retired vehicles have left DOE fleet and are no longer providing data to 

Created Sep-07-2010 8:43 AM (2) Two project teams concluded in Fall/Winter 2009 

Cumulative Veh icles Deployed/Retired1
 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 5 
t

Fueling Station Status: Stations that COperate are Mostly Delivered Compre

Learning Demonstration Hydrogen Stat

10

9876543210 

Delivered Compressed Natural Gas On-Site On-Site Electrolys

H2 Reforming 

Station Type 

OperatinOperatinHistorica

Historica

NREL CDP32 

Created Aug-24-10 4:05pm *Some project teams concluded Fall/Winter 2009. Markersshow the cumulative stations op

# of Stations

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 6 
Out of 24 Project Stations, 15 Are Stil

(2/3 outside of DOE project) 

SF Bay Area 

10 

20 25 

ons 

Cumulative Stations 

Continuing Outside of Project Retired Stations Current Project Stations 10 

5 

9 

0 5 

10 15

Number of Statio 9 

5 

3 

Reporting Period NREL CD P31 Created Aug-24-10 4:05pm 

58 

Los Angeles Area 

15 

Aug-10-2010 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 7 
et ec c

Evaluation Against 3 Primary Project ajoMet All Major Technic

Vehicle Performance Metrics Gen 1 Vehicle Gen 2 VehFuel Cell Stack Durability 

Max Team Projected Hours to 

10% Voltage Degradation 1807 hours 2521 ho

Average Fuel Cell Durability Projection 821 hours 1062 ho

Max Hours of Operation 2375 h 1261 h p by a Single FC Stack to Date 2375 hours 1261 ho

Driving Range 103-190 miles 196-254 m

Fuel Economy (Window Sticker) 42 – 57 mi/kg 43 – 58 m

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

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

Infrastructure Performance Metrics H2 Cost at Station (early market) 

On-site natural gas 

reformation 

$7.70 - $10.30 

On-site 

Electroly

$10.00 - $1

Average H Average H Fueling Rate 0 77 kg/min 

2 Fueling Rate 0.77 kg/min 

Outside of this project, DOE independent panels concluded at 500 replicate 

Distributed natural gas reformation at 1500 kg/day: $2.75-$3.50/kg 

Distributed electrolysis at 1500kg/day: $4.90-$5.70 (2009) 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 8 
With Fewer Industry Partners Pro

Anal

ysis Takes on a New Dimens

80 Spring 2010 Results 16 Fall 2

• Most comprehensive set we ever published • Includes durability Includes durability, range, fuel economy fuel economy, etc.

• Covers data from all 4 Learning Demo 

teams + CHIP project over 5 year period 

• Majority of these will now stay static, serving 

as a historical record of Gen 1 & Gen 2 as a historical record of Gen 1 & Gen 2 

comparisons. 

• No “new” CDPs, but 

published CDPs witpublished CDPs wit

• Results on most rec

economy, not yet podata accumulated (i

• Covers data from 2 

project 

• Emphasized change

through use of gray 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

9 
Quantified Gen 2 Fuel Cell SysteIm

provement from Gen 1 

2800 2600 2400 2200 2000 1800 1600 

200 

0 

NREL CDP01 

Created: Mar-23-10 10:39 AM 

Actual Operating Hours Accumulated To-Date Projected Hou

* 

2009 Target 

ours) 

One Gen 1 stack 

accumulated almost 

2400 hours without 

maintenance 

Time (H 2006 Target o 

 Projections will change as additional data are accumulated. (6) Projection method was modified beginning with 2009 Q2 data, includes an upper projection limit based o

DOE Learning Demonstration Fuel Cell Stack Durabi

Based on Data Through 2009 Q2

600 800 

1000 1200 1400 

400 600 

(1) Range bars created using one data point for each OEM. Some stacks have accumulated hours beyond (2) Range (highest and lowest) of the maximum operating hours accumulated to-date of any OEM's individua(3) Range (highest and lowest) of the average operating hours accumulated to-date of all stacks in each OE(4) Projection using on-road data -- degradation calculated at high stack current. This criterion is used for ass may differ from OEM's end-of-life criterion, and does not address "catastrophic" failure modes, such as (5) Using one nominal projection per OEM: "Max Projection" = highest nominal projection, "Avg Projection" = 

The shaded projection bars represents an engineering judgment of the uncertainty on the The shaded projection bars represents an engineering judgment of the uncertainty on the "Avg Projectio

Avg Projectio

Gen1 Gen2 Gen1 Gen2 

Max Hrs Accumulated1,2 Avg Hrs Accumulated1,3 

G

Projection 

*Durability is defined by DOE as projected hours to 10% voltage 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 10 
Completed Final Analysis of Gen 

S

ystem Power De

gradation 

110 120 130 

Max Fuel Cell Power Loss vs Op Hours: Gen1 

Gen1 Data Range 25th & 75th Percentiles 

Group Median 

Outlier Need ~1000 hours 

to have higher 

60 70 80 90 

100 

% Power(1) Note that 

de

gradation 

to have higher 

confidence in 

slope of 

degradation 

30 40 50

 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 10001100120013001400150016001700180019002000 

Stack Op Hour Segments(2) 

1) Normalized by fleet median value at 200 hours. 2) Each segment point is median FC power (+-50 hrs) Max Fuel Cell P

g 

flattens out after 

~200 hours 

2) Each segment point is median FC power (+-50 hrs).

 Box not drawn if fewer than 3 points in segment. NREL CDP69 Created: Mar-23-10 10:39 AM 

90 

100 110 120 130 

r(1) 

40 50 60 70 80

% Power From limited Gen 2 data 

received so far, trend of 

flattening after 200 

hours appears similar 

Ge

of 

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 

Stack 

1) Normalized by 2) Each segmen Box not draw

NREL CDP70 Created: Mar-23-10 10:39 AM 

30 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 11 
0 02 04 06 08 1 12 14 1

Based on Limited Data from Last Average FuelingRate Decreased 

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1

NREL cdp_fcev_18 Avg Fuel Rate (kg/min) 

Created: Sep-15-10 9:34 AM 

1800 

Histogram of Fueling Rates 

Vehicle and Infrastructure

 20 20

Th 

1200 1400 1600 

ts5 kg in 

Th

 Af

800 

1000 1200 

of Fueling Event5 kg in 

5 minutes 

25464 Events 

Average = 0.77 kg/min 

23% >1 kg/min 

400 600 800 

Number o 5 kg 

3 minu

1730 Events 

Average = 0.66 kg/min 

3% >1 kg/min 

0 

200 400 g 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 12 
Real-World Driving Range Between RContinues to Improve as Demonstrat

Distance Driven Between Refuelings: All OEMs 

 Gen1 

10 

elings 

 Refuelings 

1 = 18941

 Median distance between refuelings = 56 Miles

 Gen2

 Refuelings1 = 6870 Median distance between refuelings = 81 Miles 

entage of Refue Refuelings after 2009Q41 = 31

 Median distance between 

5

Perce 

0 

0 50 100 150 200 

Distance between refuelings [Miles]

2

1. Some refueling events are not detected/reported due to data noise or incompleteness.

Created: Sep-07-10 9:16 AM 

NREL cdp_fcev_80 2. Distance driven between refuelings is indicative of driver behavior and does not represent the full range 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 13 
Driving Behavior in Last 6 MonthMuch More Similar to U.S. Nation

Driving by Time of Day 

12 

% of driving trips b/t 6 AM & 6 PM: 77 1% 

% of driving trips b/t 6 AM & 6 PM: 85.3% 

9% 

12 

% of NHTS trips b/t 6 AM & 6 PM: 81.5% 

% of driving 

trips b/t 6 AM & 6 PM: 77.1% 

9 

3

7% 

1. Driving trips between 6 AM & 6 PM 2. The outer arc is set at 12 % total Driving. 

6 

AM PM 

2

3. Some events not recorded/detected due to data noise or incompleteness. 

A

Created: Sep-02-10 12:48 PM 

NREL cdp_fcev_44 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 14 
Range: NREL/SRNL Verified Toyota FCHV-a

>400-Mile (Without Refueling) on June 30, 20

60 MPG 90 MPG 

Average

trip

H2 Remaining

Calculated

remaining

0 MPG 

30 MPG 60 MPG 

distance

(miles)

consumed

(kg)

usable

H2

(kg)

range

(miles) (miles) (miles)

Vehicle

#1

331.50 4.8255 1.4854 102.04 433.55

Vehicle 431

331 45

4 8751 1 4328 97 41 428 87

#2

331.45

4.8751 1.4328 97.41 428.87

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 15 
National Renewable Energy Laboratory 16 Innovation for Our Energy Future

Summary and Future Work

• Project has completed >5 full years of operation

• Vehicle operation: 114,000 hours, 2.87 million miles, 

436,000 trips

• H2 station operation: 134,000 kg produced or dispensed, 

27,000 refuelings

• DOE Key Technical Targets Met: FC Durability and Range

• Future Work:

• Progress to be tracked over final 2 years of project

• Additional collaboration with remaining auto OEM teams

• New CA fueling stations planned for inclusion in future results as 

data becomes available
Questions and Discussion

Project C 

Con

tac

t: 

K

eith Wi

p

ke, N l Rational Renew

303.275.4451 keith.wipke

@n

All public Learning Demo papers and presentations are All public Learning Demo papers and presentations are 

online at http://www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_tech_valida

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 17