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Fuel Cell Auxiliary Power Units (APU) are more and more considered as having the potential to improve fuel economy, to be environmental friendly and to add new functions and features to vehicles. There are several APU system architectures combined with different fuels and power levels applied to various vehicles A liquid fuelled APU with a power of 5 kW can address a significant market potential in the field of transportation systems. The future higher voltage architecture and the increasing electrical power demand on board of vehicles are two of several drivers that make the APU solution interesting for many applications. XCELLSIS, The Fuel Cell Engine Company, is developing and manufacturing APUs for automotive application. In this paper, the potential of APUs, their market, and their application, are presented.

A liquid fuelled, fuel cell auxiliary power unit (APU) can provide efficient, quiet and low pollution power for a variety of applications including commercial and military vehicles. Truck idling regulation, customer comfort or military “stealth” operation by using electrical power, require a device disconnected from the main diesel engine. The power can be utilized for air conditioning as well as other auxiliary systems found on board commercial trucks for driver comfort. In a military vehicle, this regulated power could be supplied to telecommunication and other computer equipment required for military operations. A system designed to be an add-on or retrofit solution using alternative fuel can have the potential to meet these requirements on the hundreds of thousands of existing vehicles currently in service or as optional equipment on a newly procured vehicle.