Guest Editorial Special Section on Hybrid Electric and Fuel Cell Vehicles

There are more than 70 million vehicles manufactured every year worldwide including passenger automobiles, sport utility vehicles, vans, trucks, buses, heavy-duty vehicles, and military applications. With the requirements for reducing the emissions and improving the fuel economy, the automotive companies are developing hybrid and fuel cell systems for propulsion. In addition, the increasing use of electrical and electronic features to improve vehicle performance, passenger comfort, safety, and convenience has resulted in the growth of electrical loads in the vehicle. Hence, the fuel cells are also being investigated as an auxiliary power unit for on-board power generation. There is a lot of interest in academia and in the transportation related industries to advance the state-of-the-art in the areas of hybrid and fuel cell based vehicle technologies.