The motivation for the use of hydrogen as fuel is that it is renewable and can
reduce emissions. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are still likely to be more of a far-term
reality because of their high manufacturing cost. A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) with a
hydrogen fueled internal combustion (IC) engine has the potential to provide a low-
emission, low-cost, practical solution in the near future. A standard SUV has been
converted into a hydrogen powered HEV. The powertrain utilizes compressed gaseous
hydrogen as fuel, a boosted hydrogen IC engine, an induction motor, a hydraulic
transmission, regenerative braking, advanced Nickel Metal Hybrid (NiMH) batteries, and
a real-time control system. Tests show that the vehicle can deliver higher fuel economy
and much lower emissions than those of a traditional SUV without compromise to
performance. This dissertation presents an overview of the prototype vehicle and
emphasizes some of the unique features of this energy-saving, clean environment
solution.
Validation plays an important role in the software development, as it provides
users the degree of accuracy of the software. Modeling tools could be validated using the
data sources of vehicle testing. The testing data will be used for the comparison of model
results and test data. However, not much work has been conducted to validate the
modeling tools by other research work. This dissertation validates the modeling tools by
the testing results of the hydrogen HEV.