The design and test of a 9.5 kWe proton exchange membrane fuel cell passively coupled with a 33 x 1500 F supercapacitor pack is presented. Experimental results showed that the system reduced dynamic loads on the fuel cell without the need for additional DC/DC converters. Fuel efficiency gains of approximately 5% were achieved by passive hybridisation in addition to addressing two main operational degradation mechanisms: no-load idling and rapid load cycling. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy measurements indicated that the supercapacitor capacitance dropped with decreasing cell voltage and suggested that operation below 1.3 V is not recommended. Knee-frequency measurements suggested little benefit was gained in using passive systems with load cycles that have frequency components above 0.19 Hz. Analysis of system sizing suggested using the minimum number of supercapacitors to match the open circuit voltage of the fuel cell to maximise load buffering. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.