Innovative fuel cell buses with automated guidance by GPS for public transport application

This paper proposes the use of an innovative transport system based on electric buses, with on-board energy sources and automated guidance control by GPS. The on-board energy sources consist of fuel cells, supplied by ethanol fuel with or without on-board catalytic reformer. Electrical storage systems (batteries, supercapacitors) integrate the fuel cell for more efficient management of the energy exchange with the electric propulsion motors. The vehicle guidance and control are managed according to the signals provided by one or more GPS receivers, in conjunction with an inertial platform and numerical cartography. In this way the electrical steering, braking and propulsion functions can be governed electronically by means of drive-by-wire technology. This control leads to less driver engagement, full flexibility in the route definition and comfortable operation because of the optimised management of both the propulsion and the steering system. The features of the proposed transportation system are analysed and discussed in the paper.