Fuel cell vehicle commercialization and mass production are challenged by the durability of fuel cells and could be promoted by accelerated lifetime evaluating methods. In this paper, an arithmetic equation of fuel cell lifetime is presented, which is relating with load changing cycles, start-stop cycles, idling time, high power load condition and the air pollution factor. Basing on the practical data gathered from a fuel cell bus and the test results of a fuel cell stack in laboratory, the calculated lifetime fits the bus real running lifetime very well. it is shown that the automotive fuel cell lifetime mightily depends on driving cycles, and the potential lifetime in different operating mode can be effectively predicted by using this method with about 300 h test time. The test results also show that the effect of start-stop cycling on fuel cell lifetime can be almost ignored if the stack open circuit voltage is dispelled quickly after fuel cell stops operating. it is worthwhile that from this quick lifetime-evaluating method we can find many possible directions to improve fuel cell durability. (C) 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.