A Critical Review of Recent Industrial Developments, Trends, and Future Perspectives of Power Electronic Systems: Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) offer a promising solution for environment-friendly and sustainable future transportation, thanks to their remarkable features (e.g., zero-carbon emission, high-power capacity, long driving range, etc.). This article extensively reviews all power electronic systems in FCEVs with special emphasis on current implementation status, recent breakthroughs, existing industrial practices, challenges, and prospects. Different from conventional studies, this article provides a more comprehensive, systematic, and organized review of all FCEV systems that can be categorized into three systems: first, fuel cell systems, including fuel cell stack and its nonisolated high-voltage (HV) dc/dc power converter; second, power backup systems, including HV battery and ultracapacitor along with their bidirectional dc/dc power converter and energy management system; and finally, driving systems, including dc/ac inverter, traction motor, regenerative braking system, and low-voltage dc/dc power converter. Finally, future challenging issues, development trends, and prospects are comprehensively discussed.

I. Introduction

Recently, environment-friendly electric vehicles (EVs) with zero carbon emission have received significant attention, thanks to technological advancements in the field of power electronics and the active participation of governmental organizations in promoting green mobility [1]. As a result, global EV sales have crossed 8.5 million as compared to 4.11 million in 2020, whereas it is expected to reach 46.8 million by 2030 [2]. EVs can be categorized into hybrid/plug-in EVs and all-electric vehicles (AEVs), with the latter ones completely relying on electricity for driving the EV. Based on the source, an AEV can be a battery EV (BEV) or a fuel cell (FC) EV (FCEV). Notably, FCEVs are characterized by faster charging (<5 min), high energy density (up to 39 kWh/kg), longer driving range (on average 312–380 miles), lower operating temperature, and less vehicle weight [3].