Method and apparatus for driving fuel cell-based vehicle

An apparatus of driving a fuel cell-based vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

• a fuel cell stack including one or more unit cells for energy generation;
• an air compressor configured to supply air to the fuel cell stack;
• a battery electrically connected to the air compressor and configured to provide electric power to the air compressor;
• a converter electrically connected to the battery and configured to boost a voltage of the battery to a drive voltage of the air compressor;
• a memory storing a lookup table in which a state of charge (SOC) value of the battery is matched with a magnitude of the open-circuit voltage;
• and
• a fuel cell controller configured to determine whether the vehicle is in an ignition entry state, determine an open-circuit voltage of the battery by searching the lookup table when the fuel cell controller concludes that the vehicle is in the ignition entry state, determine a drive current provided to the air compressor from the battery based on the open-circuit voltage and drive the air compressor based on the drive current,
• wherein the fuel cell controller is further configured to set the drive current so that a magnitude obtained by subtracting a voltage drop caused by the drive current from the open-circuit voltage is greater than or equal to a minimum input voltage of the converter.