KPIT-CSIR develop India’s first indigenous hydrogen fuel cell bus

Team L&M

The Pune-based KPIT Technologies Ltd, in association with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), have developed a hydrogen fuel cell bus. The bus was unveiled by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh

Speaking on the occasion with, Dr Singh said Green Hydrogen is an excellent clean energy vector that enables deep de-carbonisation of difficult-to-abate emissions from the refining industry, fertiliser industry, steel industry, cement industry and also from the heavy commercial transportation sector.

Fuel Cell utilises Hydrogen and Air to generate electricity to power the bus; the only effluent from the bus being water. This makes it possibly the most environment-friendly mode of transportation. Notably, 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.

Due to the high efficiency of fuel cell vehicles and the high energy density of hydrogen, operational cost for fuel cell trucks and buses is lower than diesel-powered vehicles. The hydrogen fuel cell can surely being in freight revolution in the country. What’s more, Fuel Cell vehicles have zero green-house gas emissions.

“We are also aiming to increase inland waterways for freight and passenger transport,” said Dr Singh, adding that by achieving these goals, India can pole-vault from being net importer of fossil energy to becoming net exporter of clean hydrogen energy and thus, providing global leadership to India in hydrogen space by becoming a large green hydrogen producer and supplier of equipment for green hydrogen.