Tata Motors, one of India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer has delivered Hydrogen Fuel Cell powered (FCEV) buses to Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), the country’s largest petroleum company.
The two buses were flagged-off by Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs; Rameswar Teli, Union Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Labour & Employment; Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas; S M Vaidya, Chairman, IOCL; Dr. Umish Srivastva, Executive Director, IOCL, and Rajendra Petkar, President & CTO, Tata Motors.
Girish Wagh, Executive Director, Tata Motors said, “This is an outcome of the progressive policies of the government, IOCL’s focus on future readiness and Tata Motors’ R&D prowess, all collaborating to fulfil the common vision of clean mobility in India. The delivery of the FCEV buses to IOCL marks a significant step forward in this journey and we are grateful for the trust and support of our partners.”
In June 2021, Tata Motors had won a tender from IOCL to provide 15 FCEV buses to evaluate the potential of hydrogen-based PEM fuel-cell technology in India. These buses are to be assessed as potential mass transport solution for inter and intra-city commute.
The FCEV buses are built at a dedicated lab in Tata Motors’ world class R&D centre at Pune. The 12-metre long buses are designed for easy ingress and egress with a low-floor design, can seat 35 passengers and are delivered after successful strenuous road tests and validations. Expertise and experiences was acquired by Tata Motors from a collaborative approach with renowned industry partners and research institutions, for adapting the advanced hydrogen-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology to Indian conditions, and has played a key role in developing the buses.
Rajendra Petkar said “This is an important milestone for green mobility in India, harnessing the strong potential of hydrogen as an energy carrier, ushering in hydrogen economy in the transport sector. This bus features 350-bar hydrogen storage system, 70 Kw fuel cell stack, electronic braking system & stability control for higher safety, intelligent transport system, new-generation telematics for efficient, user-friendly vehicle maintenance and tracking along with roomy interiors.”
At present, Tata Motors is working on various alternate fuel technology, including battery-electric, hybrid, CNG, LNG, Hydrogen ICE and Hydrogen Fuel Cell technologies.
