Sustainable development is the ultimate focus for all the upcoming inventions and
innovations in the modern world. Automotive manufacturers contribute their
research in terms of producing eco-friendly vehicles since it is proven that
internal combustion engine–powered vehicles directly affect the air quality with
their polluting exhaust gas. The rapid emergence of zero tailpipe emission
vehicles such as electric and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) obtained the
attention of major automotive giants worldwide. owing to their green mobility,
battery-operated electric vehicles have already hit the road despite the
challenges of recharging time, availability of recharging stations,
range-to-weight ratio, and battery life and its recycling process. Drastic
upscaling research and development of hydrogen FCEVs paves the way to reach the
goal of sustainable transportation with its air cleaning effect, long range,
zero tailpipe emission, and quick refueling time. FCEVs run with the help of
hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen leaving only pure water and warm air as an
exhaust. The efficiency of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) in FCEVs
depends on various internal and external parameters. Research and development in
terms of internal parameters with respect to the internal components of a fuel
cell stack includes proper fuel and airflow channel design, efficient design of
thin gas diffusion layer (GDL), and self-humidifying membrane structure design.
On the other hand, the external parameters such as maintaining temperature,
pressure and humidity of inlet hydrogen and air and its flow rate, and proper
hydrogen recirculating system. In this article, considering the practical
limitations of our fuel cell stack, we have considered only external parameters
of oxygen concentration and temperature of the fuel cell stack for our
experimentation. We did the experiment with oxygen cylinders and concluded that
fuel cell stack efficiency increases with the increase in oxygen concentration
from 21% to 50%. Also, we concluded that by maintaining the optimum temperature
of the fuel cell stack with a variable flow coolant pump, maximum efficiency is
retained in the temperature range of 40–55°C.