After introducing CNG engines, Hinduja group flagship Ashok Leyland has gone a step further to improve combustion. It has successfully developed a 6-cylinder, 6-litre 92 kW BS-4 hythane engine in a tie-up with Eden Energy of Australia.
Hythane is a blend of natural gas and hydrogen (usually 20% hydrogen by volume). Addition of hydrogen (a renewable fuel), improves efficiency, while retaining the low emission characteristics of CNG. Concurrently, a 4-cylinder 4-litre 63 KW engine is being developed for H-CNG blend in a joint researgh and development programme with ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) and Indian Oil Corporation.
Application of these engines to buses by Ashok Leyland is at an advanced stage.
The company is also in talks with government agencies regarding making hythane available for commercial use in the future.
An official spokesperson told FE that the company will start testing vehicles based on the hythane engines in the near future. ?It requires approval from both Automotive Research Association of India of Pune and Controller of Explosives before it is used commercially. We are in talks with oil companies as well as others for the same.? According to him, using hythane for commercial purposes is feasible but needs to wait for some time. The oil agencies will have to refine and develop the fuel and based on the success it can be used. It is believed that IOC has one such outlet in Dwaraka in Gujarat, he said adding, ?it is a function of policy and pricing.?
Ashok Leyland pioneered the use of CNG fuel for mass transportation in the country by rolling out India?s first CNG bus in 1997 in Mumbai.
Today, over 5,500 Ashok Leyland CNG buses ply on the roads of Delhi, Ahmedabad, Vijayawada and Mumbai as well as certain overseas markets. Another significant development by Ashok Leyland was India?s first Multi-Point Fuel Injection (MPFI) for high capacity CNG engine in 2008.
Meanwhile, Ashok Leyland, as part of its cost cutting measures to overcome the slack situation, has introduced introspection across its manufacturing plants.
The move has helped Ashok Leyland save close to the tune of Rs 1.7 crore by innovate new technologies at fuel injection pumping systems, process value engineering activities to improve the overall equipment efficiency, interconnecting of cooling towers and gas chambers, value stream mapping to reduce inventories, rectification in the areas of real axles, steering boxes, engines, gear boxes, tyres and battries, among others.