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In Context
- Recently, India’s first indigenously developed Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) Bus was launched in Pune.
More about the news
- About:
- The Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus is a product of the joint development efforts by KPIT and CSIR-NCL (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Chemical Laboratory).
- KPIT Technologies Limited:
- It is a technology company headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra, India.
- KPIT Technologies Limited:
- The Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus is a product of the joint development efforts by KPIT and CSIR-NCL (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Chemical Laboratory).
- Downstream process technology:
- The uniqueness of the process developed by CSIR-NCL is a novel downstream process technology, which makes this indigenous technology competitive with global benchmarks.
- The process is ready for technology transfer and further co-development to commercial scale.
What is Hydrogen Fuel?
Types of Hydrogen Fuel
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Significance
- Green hydrogen:
- It is an excellent clean energy vector that enables deep decarbonization of difficult-to-abate emissions from the industries like
- Refining industry,
- Fertiliser industry,
- Steel industry,
- Cement industry
- And also from the heavy commercial transportation sector.
- It is an excellent clean energy vector that enables deep decarbonization of difficult-to-abate emissions from the industries like
- The most environmentally friendly mode of transportation:
- The fuel cell utilizes Hydrogen and Air to generate electricity to power the bus.
- The only effluent from the bus is water and could be the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation to date.
- Comparing with diesel-powered bus:
- A single diesel bus plying on long-distance routes typically emits 100 tons of CO2 annually and there are over a million such buses in India.
- Comparing with diesel-powered bus:
- Zero greenhouse gas emissions:
- Hydrogen fuelled vehicles provide an excellent means to eliminate the on-road emissions from the heavy commercial transportation sector.
- About 12-14% CO2 emissions and particulate emissions come from diesel powered heavy commercial vehicles and these are decentralised emissions and hence difficult to capture.
- Efficiency and cost effectiveness:
- High efficiency of fuel cell vehicles and the high energy density of hydrogen ensures that the operational costs in rupees per kilometre for fuel cell trucks and buses are lower than diesel-powered vehicles
- This could also bring a freight revolution in India.
- India’s role as an exporter:
- India can pole-vault from being a net importer of fossil energy to becoming a net exporter of clean hydrogen energy.
- India thus, has a potential of providing global leadership in hydrogen space by becoming a large green hydrogen producer and supplier of equipment for green hydrogen.
- Better than electric vehicles:
- They enable a refuelling time of just 5 minutes, compared to 30-45 minutes of charging for a Battery operated Electric Vehicle.
- Also, cars get better energy storage per unit volume and weight, freeing up a lot of space for other things.
- It is also effective for sectors that cannot be electrified like shipping and air travel.
About National Hydrogen Mission
Significance for India in pursuing green hydrogen
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Source: TH
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