Abstract:

This study examines the technological and financial viability of solid oxide fuel cell-battery hybrid vehicles in Iran and compares them to petrol, battery electric vehicles (BEV) and polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) vehicles. Iran has abundant natural gas supplies, and its gearbox and distribution networks are rather wide, making it a prime location for the development of SOFC-Battery hybrid vehicles powered by natural gas.  In this paper, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and life cycle cost were analyzed. We ranked different vehicles in 2021 and forecast their ranking for 2030, which is crucial for policymaking and technology support. The results show the well to wheel energy consumption of SOFC-Battery hybrid vehicle per km in 2021 is nearly same as PEFC FCEVs and 1060 kJ and 560 kJ less than gasoline and battery electric vehicle respectively. The well to wheel emission of SOFC FCEVs in 2021 is a little less than PEFC FCEV and 50% and 28% lower, respectively than gasoline vehicle and BEV. It is expected that the life cycle cost per km on a charge of SOFC hybrid vehicles with equal driving range will be the best choice in 2030 with 23.9 cents per km.