The dynamic behavior of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system is a crucial factor to ensure the safe and effective operation of fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHVs). Specifically, water and thermal management are critical to stabilize the performance of the PEMFC during severe load changes. In the present study, the FCHV dynamic model is developed. The dynamic model of the PEMFC system developed by Matlab-Simulink (R) is integrated into the electric vehicle model embedded in the Amesim (R). The dynamic model of the PEMFC system is composed of a PEMFC stack, an air feeding system, and a thermal management system (TMS). The component models of PEMFC, a shell-and-tube gas-to-gas membrane humidifier, and a heat exchanger are validated via a comparison with the experimental data. The FCHV model is simulated during a federal test procedure (FTP)-75 driving cycle. One system configuration and control strategy is adopted to attain optimal water and thermal management in the PEMFC system. The vehicle speed obtained from the FCHV model aptly tracks the target velocity profile of the FTP-75 cycle within an error of +/- 0.5%. The dynamic behavior and correlation of each component in the PEMFC system is investigated. The mass and heat transfer in the PEMFC, a humidifier, and a heat exchanger are resolved to determine the species concentration and the temperature more accurately with discretization in the flow's perpendicular direction. Discretization in the flow parallel direction of humidifier and heat exchanger model makes it possible to capture the distribution of the characteristics. The present model can be used to attain the optimization of the system and control design for the PEMFC system in FCHVs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.