PIERRE MARIO FITTER
Hydrogen-powered vehicles are the holy grail of automotive technology. Several scientists and companies believe that hydrogen holds the key to a cheap, renewable fuel for cars as well as cleaner skies. Although millions of dollars and several years have been spent on research, the technology is still too expensive for the common man.
Now, a project between the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the Society Of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will attempt to bring hydrogen blend-powered vehicles to India.
According to a ministry source, the Rs 6-crore project will focus on producing a commercially-viable hydrogen-CNG blended fuel by October 2009. The goal is to eventually have all new and existing CNG vehicles running on the new blend.
The benefits are clear. A similar American experiment in 2002 using a Dodge Ram Van (Chrysler’s full size van) showed a considerable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This is because hydrogen burns nearly four times more efficiently than fossil fuels and only emits water vapour. Additionally, by combining hydrogen with CNG, lesser quantities of CNG will be needed, thus reducing India’s demand from volatile foreign sources of gas such as Iran.
Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors, Ashok Leyland and Bajaj Auto will provide one vehicle each for the project — an Indica, a Scorpio, two light commercial vehicles and one three-wheeler, respectively.
The consortium will first attempt to find the right blend of hydrogen and CNG (between 0 and 30 per cent of hydrogen), which is compatible to all the engines. These tests will also determine whether minor adjustments need to be made to the fuel injectors, timing mechanisms and other parts of the existing CNG engines. All this will happen at an IOC facility in Faridabad, near Delhi.
The first year will go into laboratory testing, and in the second year, each vehicle will be test driven for 50,000 km. These road tests will establish whether the new fuel’s performance is acceptable under long-term, everyday driving conditions. There will also be emissions tests every 10,000 km to observe the eco-friendliness of the new fuel.
If the hydrogen-CNG blend proves successful, the government is expected to invest heavily to market the fuel. This is part of MNRE’s overarching goal to have 1 million vehicles running on hydrogen-based fuels by 2020 — about 20 per cent of all vehicles expected to be sold by then.
Currently, an experimental hydrogen-CNG fuel station is running in Delhi to test on-site blending of the two gases. This will show whether existing CNG pumps can be similarly modified. But the project will need hundreds of such fuel stations. How these come up is another story.
