Essay --

Gasoline and diesel fuels form the back bone of the present road transport. The internal combustion engine is being used in vehicles for the past 100 years approximately. But the problem with the engines is the limitation of fossil fuel reserves and the emissions of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. These fossil fuels generate emissions of pollutants such as PM, Nox and CO which are hazardous to the human being. It is the need of the hour to vouch for other renewable energy sources to overcome the energy crisis and to achieve decarburisation, energy security and cleaner air to breathe. Fuel cells are the devices that convert chemical energy to electrical energy without the emissions of harmful exhaust gases.. This paper summarizes the configuration of the fuel cell hybrid vehicle. It briefly describes the function of each component and the losses occuring in each component. Fuel cells are the most quiet and reliable as they have no moving parts. The efficiency is about twice that of the internal combustion engine. [2]. There is no Carnot limitation as in case of IC engine. The most commonly used fuel cell is hydrogen fuel cell in the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Hydrogen is a clean burning fuel. The exhaust is pure water. The combination of a fuel cell with a battery is studied in this paper. The hybridization of the fuel cell helps in reducing the size of the fuel cell and its initial cost but it increases the vehicle complexity, weight and the battery cost. At higher loads and greater acceleration, the battery provides surplus power and increases the fuel cell efficiency. At low loads the fuel cell is used to provide the required power. The battery is also used for the start up of the vehicle ... ...es by 2030. The cost of FCHEVs and BEVs are not largely affected by the changes in electricity costs, but the ICE and FCEV costs are greatly affected by the fuel cost. This occurs partially due to the different powertrain efficiencies. Comparing the overall lifecycle costs, it can be observed that FCHEVs and BEVs are cheaper as compared to FCEVs and ICEs. But the FCHEVs and BEVs are sensitive to the overall capital and running costs. For instance, the BEVs in particular are sensitive to battery size. The lifecycle costs of ICEs and BEVs are about 1.75 times higher than that of the FCHEVs and the BEVs. There are several challenges that are to be met in the near future for the FCHEVs to achieve commercialization, reliability, cost effectiveness and performance. Fuel cell hybrid vehicles can definitely be the clean technology used in the future of automotive engines.