Optimal design and management of renewable energy system for charging infrastructure of hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric vehicles

Integration of zero-emission electric vehicles along with renewable energy systems is considered as the most effective measure to substantially reduce environmental emissions. The aim of this study is to develop a simulation model for comparison of the operational performance of light-duty battery electric vehicle and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle integrated with optimally designed autonomous and non-autonomous renewable energy systems provided with energy management system using fuzzy logic controller with considerations for energy, economics, and environmental aspects, while accounting for reliability in terms of power and hydrogen supply. Based on several heuristic algorithms, the optimization is performed to minimize the total cost of charging infrastructure consisting of costs for capital, replacement, operation and maintenance, carbon dioxide emissions, and the grid for a residential application in San Diego, California, with either battery electric vehicle or fuel cell electric vehicle, in presence of residential electrical load. Considering the current time-of-use electricity tariff, the simulation results for 20 years of ownership show that the non-autonomous configuration integrated with battery electric vehicle is the most economically favorable with substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, where its annualized total cost of $5,482/yr is approximately at one-third of that for fuel cell electric vehicle. It is determined that the current time-of-use electricity tariff is not in full support of hydrogen production for fuel cell electric vehicle utilization, however, it is more suitable than the flat tariff to promote electric vehicle ownership.