Abstract: To shorten the residence time of the H₂/O₂ interface and restrict the start-up voltage of the stack during the start-up process of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC),the effect differences of direct start-up,hydrogen purging time and auxiliary load current on the performance of PEMFC were studied by experiment. A fuel system start-up control strategy was proposed which combines hydrogen-purging the anode with starting the auxiliary load current. Experimental results prove that the start-up control strategy limits the start-up voltage of the fuel cell,shortens the residence time of the H₂/O₂ interface during the start-up process of the stack,and is conducive to improve the single-battery voltage balance. So it is a kind of effective PEMFC start-up control strategy.