In last years, Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) have received an increasing interest as a candidate for light and heavy-duty vehicle application. Material durability, related in particular to the loss of electrocatalyst active surface area (ECSA) and ionomer degradation, still represents one of the main barriers to an extensive market penetration of the technology. A specific model framework, combining properly a PEMFC performance model with a catalyst durability model, was developed and validated to predict performance ageing under typical automotive conditions. A 1 + 1D multiphase dynamic non isothermal PEMFC model was used to investigate experimental data obtained on a segmented cell hardware. A new semi-empirical ECSA loss model, in analogy with the physics of platinum dissolution mechanism, was developed and validated initially on accelerated stress tests on different operating conditions. Exploiting experimental database made up of 1000 operating hours performing real world driving cycle protocol, the effect of local operating conditions on PEMFC degradation in performance was furtherly comprehended. 

Experimental data on single cell were collected under ID-FAST project (Grant Agreement No 779565, Joint Undertaking, EU Horizon 2020).