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Automobile industry is facing challenges in the field of technological innovation and achieving minimum Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) despite rise in fuel prices. To overcome these challenges is certainly a challenging task. In doing so, automobile sector is mainly focused on passenger safety, comfort, reliability, meeting stringent emission norms, and above all reducing the vehicle fuel consumption. Referring to the Paris climate agreement, and India’s commitment to reduce the CO2 intensity by 33% - 35% by 2030 below the 2005 levels [1], it is imperative to lay down strong policies and procedure to curb the fuel consumption to contribute for reduction in carbon foot print and oil imports. Transportation sector is majorly responsible for the GHG Emission of which the CO2 emission from commercial vehicles is nearly 73% [2], although the total sales of commercial vehicles are around 4% of cumulative vehicle sales.

Small single & two cylinder diesel engines, still have primitive technical design features and extensively used in India and various Asian countries to power small and light motor vehicles viz., three wheelers, light duty four wheelers. These vehicles have become inevitable for the transport for both urban and rural areas. Vehicles with small single & two cylinder engines have high market demand in commercial transport due to restrictions on entry of Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV) in congested cities roads. Due to ever rising market demand for higher power and torque requirement along with better fuel economy, vehicle manufacturer are developing high Brake Mean Effective Pressure (BMEP) engines or replacing single cylinder engine by two cylinder engine, similarly two cylinder engine by three cylinder engines. Further, these engines should meet the present and forthcoming stringent emission limits.

For zero tail pipe emission transportation, fuel cell technology is the best available option for replacing commercial IC engines. Worldwide lot of research work is going on in development of fuel cell vehicles. This work deals with the virtual development of system architecture for hybrid electric - fuel cell light commercial vehicle. The goal of this research work is to virtually design, model and convert an existing LCV model in to a hybrid electric fuel cell vehicle for the same performance and better efficiencies with zero tail pipe emissions. A unique fuel cell management system is developed and used for obtaining better efficiencies. A mathematical model of the vehicle is developed using GT-Drive which tracks the energy flow and fuel usage within the vehicle drivetrain. The vehicle is tested on chassis dynamometer to provide data for validation of the mathematical model. Model results and vehicle data show good correlation when validated.

The paper deals with the simulation of a Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) using vehicle performance algorithms. This method speeds up the product development process. Also by using these kind of methodology in vehicle simulation there is much noticeable reduction in cost of testing. The simulation model is used for parametric studies of the vehicle and also to attain objectives such as to optimize transmission ratio, full load acceleration, maximum tractive force, gradient performance, fuel consumption and the exhaust emission. In this case study, simulation model of a CNG, LCV is used to analyze the performances similar to that done in a chassis dynamometer. The simulation leads to the prediction and evaluation of various parameters such as fuel consumption, exhaust emissions, full load acceleration, gradient performance & maximum tractive effort for Indian Driving Cycle.