Analytical solution for fuel cell electric vehicle energy management including a long-term predefined velocity profile

This paper proposes a new Energy Management Strategy (EMS) for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) that optimizes energy efficiency and fuel cell durability, while remaining implementable in real-time. The approach uses an analytical solution of the minimization problem for fuel consumption, which provides the constant fuel-cell power required to bring the state of charge (SoC) from its initial value to its desired final value. This global optimization, done for the initial route prediction, is included in a new control framework with a SoC regulator. This controller tracks the desired SoC evolution when the actual vehicle route is perturbed, while respecting constraints that preserve fuel cell longevity by 40 % compared to equivalent SoC controllers in the literature. The performance of the proposed EMS is assessed using Matlab/Simulink simulations for several case studies based on standard and perturbed driving cycles, showing up to a 10 % reduction in hydrogen consumption and up to a 50 % improvement in fuel cell lifespan compared to other energy management strategies. • Vehicle energy management optimizes the fuel cell consumption and durability. • An analytical solution is proposed to minimize the fuel consumption of the vehicle. • This algorithm is included in a new real-time SOC control framework. • Vehicle simulations show a reduction of hydrogen consumption up to 10%. • Fuel cell lifespan improves up to 50% compared to existent energy management.