A dynamic model and analysis of PEM fuel cells for

an electric bicycle

Tankut Yalcinoz
Institute of Power Transmission and High Voltage Technology
University of Stuttgart
Stuttgart 70569, Germany
tankut.yalcinoz@ieh.uni-stuttgart.de

Abstract— Electric bikes in European countries, where people
have higher bicycle culture, are rapidly spreading. In the paper,
a dynamic model of the PEM fuel cells for fueling electric
bicycles is proposed. The power requirement of an electric
bicycle varies significantly under different riding conditions. The
modeling and simulation of the PEM fuel cell system for electric
bicycles are verified using Matlab, Simulink and Simscape Power
Systems. A realistic drive cycle for Stuttgart is obtained by using
a web software tool. This web software tool is used for trip
analysis of an electric bicycle trip. The simulation results of the
PEM-FC electric bicycle are compared with those of the trip
simulator. The simulation results show that the PEM-FC
provides an efficient and reasonable power for electric bicycles.
Keywords— electric bicycle, fuel cell, drive cycle
I. INTRODUCTION
Energy prices and environmental concerns have put electric
vehicles in the focus of public interest. Light electric vehicles
have started to use people's everyday lives to reduce air
pollution, noise, and congestion in the city center [1]. Electric
bicycles with human power are a class of light hybrid electrical
vehicles [1-8]. By combining the benefits of a standard bicycle
with the features of electric vehicles, electric bicycles can help
make bicycle use more frequently by reducing physical effort.
Light electric vehicles founds an alternative vehicle for small
and medium distances [5]. Hwang [6] provides an extensive
overview of the technical feasibility of fuel cell scooters and
the demo of fuel cell scooters. Rechargeable batteries generally
provide power to the electric bicycles. Battery capacity, motor
power, road types, operating weight, and control system affect
their mileage [7, 8].
Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells generate
electricity electrochemically with minimal thermal loses and
have very high efficiencies [9,10]. Due to such high
efficiencies PEM fuel cells have a significant potential for
many applications such as transportation, residential,
telecommunication back-up, portable devices, space and
military applications [6-20].
Small fuel cells are small power sources that are without
using auxiliary devices. The PEM fuel cells are utilized for
small and portable applications such as laptop, phones and
small vehicles. Numerous mathematical, experimental and
numerical studies on modeling of proton exchange membrane
fuel cell components and stacks have been presented in the
literature [11-20]. Wilberforce et. al. [16] proposed modelling
and simulation of PEM fuel cells with serpentine bipolar plate
using MATLAB. Kheirandish et. al. [20] presented a
commercial electric bike, which is operated by a PEM fuel cell.
In this paper, the PEM fuel cells have employed to provide
power for electric bicycles. A dynamic model for PEM fuel
cells is based on a dynamic model described by Yalcinoz and
Alam [13]. The power need of an electric bicycle varies
significantly under different operating environments. A
realistic drive cycle is generated by using a web software tool.
The effectiveness of the proposed model has been tested using
Matlab, Simulink and Simscape Power Systems.
II. MODELING OF THE PEM FUEL CELLS
Many models have been proposed for determining the
physical performance of the fuel cells [11-20]. In this paper, a
dynamic model of the PEM fuel cells for powering electric
bicycles is based on a dynamic model described by Yalcinoz
and Alam [13]. In this dynamic model, the model described in
[18] was enriched by taking into account the characteristics of
the temperature and the equivalent internal resistance described
by Zhang et al. [19]. In the PEM-FC dynamic model, the
partial pressure of hydrogen PH 2 is expressed as [13, 18]
1/ k H2
PH 2 = ( q Hin2 − 2k r I fc )
1 + τ H2 s
(1)
where
τ H2 hydrogen time constant [s]

This work was supported by the Philipp Schwartz Initiative, which was
launched by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the German Federal
Office.

978-1-5386-5186-5/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

kH 2 hydrogen valve constant [kmol/atm s] cycling conditions. It is obvious from Fig. 3 that the power
kr modeling constant [kmol/(s. A] consumption of the electric bicycle varies from 0 W to 220 W.
Ifc fuel cell system current [A] The elevation profile of the route determines exactly the
hydrogen molar flow [kmol/s] behavior of electric bicycles on different slopes. When an
q Hin2
electric bicycle is driving uphill, the power consumption
suddenly increases. When an electric bicycle is driving
The partial pressures of water pH 2 O and oxygen PO2 are downhill, the power consumption suddenly decreases.
given in [13].

The thermodynamic potential is written as [13]

  p H po 
RT
E = N o  Eo + log  2 2

 2F  pH 2 O 
   (2)

The temperature of PEM-FC is

T = T0 + (T0 − Trt + Tic I fc )(1 − e− (t Ifc) / Tit )

(3)

where
No number of cells in series in the stack
T0, Trt, Tit constant parameters for fuel cell temperature

The output voltage is expressed as

Fig. 1. Sample trip on Google Maps
int
V stack = E − B ln(C I fc ) − R I fc
(4)

The equivalent internal resistance, Rint is expressed as [19]

R int = AR + R0 e − Ifc / τ R − BR ln( Ifc ) (5)

where
B, C constants to simulate the activation overvoltage
AR, BR, R0, τR empirical parameters

III. PEM FUEL CELL SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC BICYCLES

A realistic drive cycle for Stuttgart is obtained by using a
web software tool [21]. This web software tool is employed for Fig. 2. A driving cycle speed versus time
trip analysis of an electric bicycles trip. In this work, a GPS trip
in Stuttgart area on google maps shown in Fig. 1 is selected.
The GPS file is used to generate data such as speed, elevation
profile, input power, battery voltage etc. on the trip by using
the web-based trip simulator [21].

The simulation results of the web-based trip simulator have

been calculated with choice of a human power input of 80 W.
A driving cycle representing bicycle speed versus time is
shown in Fig. 2. The average speed the electric bicycle is 21.6
km/h and the electric bicycle takes 26:25 minute to cover an
average distance of 9.50 km. The battery of the electric bicycle
is rated is at 24 V, 12 Ah with a resistance of 0.05 ohm. The
input power of the bicycle is shown in Fig. 3. The power
Fig. 3. The input power of the bicycle
demands of an electric bicycle may vary significantly under
 A 220-Watt PEM fuel cell stack with 55 cells is used for
driving electric bicycle. The model parameters of the PEM fuel
cell system are taken from the literature [13]. A PEM fuel cell
system dynamic model is given in Fig. 4 [13]. The feedback
currents feed the fuel cell to generate enough energy for the
electric bicycle. The PEM-FC current is limited by a saturation
block. In this model, the partial pressures of hydrogen, oxygen
and water and the operating temperature are varied according
to the PEM-FC current.
Figure 5 shows the general diagram of the PEM-FC system
for an electric bike. The buck dc/dc converter is used to adjust
an output voltage of the PEM-FC system. The dc/dc converter
adjusts the output voltage of the fuel cell power source. The
output voltage of the dc/dc converter is regulated at 24 V by a
PID controller. The PEM-FC system support riders to climb
hills and overcome wind resistance.

Fig. 4. PEM-FC model

Fig. 5. PEM-FC system for an electric bicycle.

 IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
The modeling and simulation of the PEM fuel cell power
source has been verified for an electric bicycle using Matlab,
Simulink and Simscape Power Systems. The web-based trip
simulator is used to generate data such as speed, altitude
profile, input power, battery voltage, etc. on the trip [21]. A
human power input of 80 W is selected. The average speed the
electric bicycle is 21.6 km/h. A simulation time of 1585 s for
an average distance of 9.50 km., which is calculated by the
web-based trip simulator, is chosen to verify the PEM-FC
power source for electric bicycles using Matlab.

Figure 6 shows the variation of the power consumption of

the electric bicycle. The power fluctuates significantly between
0 W and 220 W. The output power of the PEM-FC is given in Fig. 7 The output power of PEM-FC.
Figure 7. The PEM-FC generates little more power from the
electricity consumption of the electric bicycle as seen clearly in
Figs.6 and 7. The input power of the bicycle calculated by the
web-based trip simulator is much closed to the output power of
the PEM-FC as observed clearly in Figs.7 and 3. The
demanding power of the electric bicycle varies considerably
under different riding conditions. The power consumption of
the electric bicycle varies considerably when traveling uphill or
downhill.

Fig. 8 illustrates the output voltage of the PEM-FC and it is

obvious that the fuel cell stack voltage alters meaningfully
under various riding conditions. Figure 9 shows the change of
the load voltage of the electric bicycle. The PEM-FC voltage
fluctuates between 25.2 V and 47.1 V. However, the control
system keeps the output voltage at 24±0.3 V. The output
voltage of the dc/dc converter can vary slightly, as the Fig. 8 The output voltage of PEM-FC
controller parameters are well chosen. According to Figs.6-8,
the PEM FC has responded very well to the changes in
electricity demand of the electric bicycle.

Fig. 9 The load voltage

Fig. 6. The power consumption of the electric bicycle V. CONCLUSION

In this paper, a PEM fuel cell power source is proposed for
electric bicycles. The dynamic modeling and simulation of the
PEM-FC power source are verified using Matlab, Simulink and
Simscape Power Systems. The web-based trip simulator is
employed to generate a realistic drive cycle for Stuttgart area.
The GPS file is used to generate data such as speed, input
power and battery voltage on the trip by using the web-based
trip simulator.
The simulation results of the PEM-FC electric bicycle are
compared with those of the trip simulator. The simulation
results demonstrate that the power consumption of an electric
bicycle varies significantly depending on various cycling
conditions. The proposed system supplies adequate power at
constant voltage for the electric bicycle. The simulation results
indicate that the PEM fuel cell is suitable for electric bicycles.
For a further study, hybrid power sources may be designed for
electric bicycles to optimize the operating life cycle of energy
sources.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Tankut Yalcinoz would like to thank the Philipp Schwartz
Initiative for their support. Tankut Yalcinoz is very grateful to
Prof. Dr.–Ing. Stefan Tenbohlen and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Krzysztof
Rudion for their help and support.
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