Patent ID: 7810595

Claim:
A method for starting up a fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle, the fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle having a battery, an air delivery compressor, an ultracapacitor-based propulsion energy storage, at least one DC-to-DC converter, and at least one electric propulsion motor, the method comprising: electrically connecting the battery to the propulsion energy storage; charging the propulsion energy storage with the battery to a predetermined level associated with powering an air delivery compressor; disconnecting the battery from the propulsion energy storage; electrically connecting the propulsion energy storage to the air delivery compressor; operating the air delivery compressor using charge from the propulsion energy storage to provide a predetermined quantity of air to the fuel cell; and causing the fuel cell to generate electricity, wherein, during the charging the propulsion energy storage, the predetermined level of propulsion energy storage charge comprises a predetermined voltage level associated with an amount of stored energy required to power the air delivery compressor for sufficient time to start up the fuel cell, and charging the propulsion energy storage comprises boosting the voltage of the battery to the predetermined voltage level and transmitting energy from the battery to the propulsion energy storage.