Presently, there are approximately 166,000 medium- and heavy-duty MD/HD) bucket trucks operating in the United States, the majority of which are diesel powered. These vehicles spend a significant amount of time idling at the work site to power the trucks hydraulic boom, lights, auxiliary equipment, and cabin heating and cooling. Work crews also use emergency generators to supplement the power provided by the bucket trucks internal combustion engines. The resulting operation of the engine is sub-optimal. Not only does it incur low fuel economy, which results in high fuel costs for the utility, but it also exposes workers and the public to diesel exhaust. Such emissions have been proven to be detrimental to public health. On the global scale, their combustion of fossil fuel contributes to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which is a growing concern for the nation. It is estimated that more than 23% of the global warming pollution is attributed to MD/HD vehicles. The proposed fuel cell powered bucket truck has zero emissions. The vehicles powertrain doubles the fuel economy compared to that of a conventional diesel powered. The fuel cell power plant provides high energy conversion from fuel to electric power and the electric traction motor provides the most efficient electromechanical power conversion to drive the wheels and auxiliary loads. The fuel cell powered bucket truck will meet and/or exceed the conventional truck operational requirements, while providing much better handling smooth acceleration and deceleration) with precise control at low speeds, enhancing the bucket collection efficiency with reduced noise for the operators and general public. The vehicle will also boast an Electric Power Take-off ePTO) function. This feature is a clean alternative to combustion engine idling to provide remote export power to work crews. A design feasibility plan and analysis will be performed to determine the fuel cell power plant size; the electric powertrain and electrohydraulic drive system; the optimized powertrain sizing utilizing advanced modeling power, energy, torque, speed, emission, etc.) and the vehicle level performance over typical commercial and residential operating scenarios. Additionally, the power sizing of energy generation will be measured against energy storage sizing to meet the vehicles optimal total energy over a full operation cycle. A trade-off study of energy storage sizing, auxiliary electrification, and load demand analysis will be performed to determine the amount of hydrogen fuel consumption required to complete the daily and weekly duty cycles including harsh seasonal cycles) with special consideration given to hydrogen fueling infrastructure planning and cost. An economic assessment will also be performed, which will include a payback analysis. The fuel cell bucket truck is commercially viable for users that require a truck with boom auxiliary function. It saves fuel, enhances the operation, and extends the operation time, which allows reduction in fleet size. The proposed return on investment is achieved in less than 4 years of operation and the fuel savings is over 14,000 gallons for the lifetime of 10 years while operating at zero emission. The fuel cell power plant utilizes renewable energy.
