On Monday, Reliance Industries (RIL) and Hinduja Group unveiled India’s first Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (H2-ICE) powered truck at the India Energy Week in Bengaluru.
Over the last one year, RIL and the Hinduja Group’s flagship firm in India, Ashok Leyland which is also the nation’s top producer of commercial vehicles, collaborated on the development of this technology.
Ashok Leyland’s display of electric and hydrogen-powered cars at Auto Expo 2023 marks a crucial turning point in India’s transition to greener and more sustainable transportation options.
The emissions-free operation supports the quest for clean transportation solutions and lowers the carbon footprint of fleets.
Compared to conventional ICE vehicles, enhanced and improved efficiency and fuel economy must be shown to be feasible. Eliminating the use of conventional fuels like gasoline and diesel will boost energy security and decrease reliance on imports.
In order to promote the development of hydrogen vehicles and the use of hydrogen internal combustion engine technology, the Indian government has put rules and initiatives in place.
The National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap sets forth the government’s strategy for developing and deploying hydrogen energy, the National Hydrogen Energy Mission, which promotes hydrogen as a clean energy source for transportation, the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage, seeks to develop clean mobility solutions, and organisations and partnerships like the International Energy Agency.
Before making the H2-ICE technology for heavy-duty trucks generally available, Reliance will first rigorously test and confirm it, beginning with its captive fleet. They prioritize ongoing testing while aiming to build a whole hydrogen mobility ecosystem. Since early 2022, the H2-ICE truck/tech has been put through testing.
The H2-ICE heavy-duty trucks will be a part of Reliance’s captive fleet once they have been evaluated for scalability and other aspects in order to better monitor and manage the hydrogen network. This may result in the development of a complete hydrogen mobility ecosystem. Better control, economic advantages, and simple access to hydrogen fuel are all positives.
By creating regional hydrogen production plants and a network of hydrogen refuelling stations, this objective may be accomplished.
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Advantages of H2-ICE trucks over conventional diesel trucks include better fuel economy, reduced pollutants, and quieter operation. Higher energy conversion efficiency in H2-ICE vehicles lowers operational expenses.
The technology is still rather new, there isn’t much hydrogen infrastructure, and initial expenses can be expensive. Costs should go down as technology advances. Although BEVs have zero tailpipe emissions and the advantage of energy efficiency, they have a range and charging time restrictions.
The decision between H2-ICE and BEVs depends on a number of variables, including the energy generation process and the intended usage.