Tata Motors to build 15 hydrogen buses for Indian Oil
Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle maker, has won a tender of 15 hydrogen-based proton exchange membrane fuel cell buses from state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), it said on June 30.
All 15 buses will be delivered within 144 weeks from the date of signing of the memorandum of understanding. In addition to supplying the buses to the Research & Development Centre of IOCL, Tata Motors will also collaborate with them to undertake R&D projects and collectively study further the potential of fuel cell technology for commercial vehicles.
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This will be done by jointly testing, maintaining and operating these buses for public transport in real-world conditions in the Delhi-National Capital Region. The buses will be refuelled by hydrogen, generated and dispensed by IOCL.
IOCL chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said the initiative would also act as a stepping stone for various other key programmes of the company, which proposes to introduce hydrogen-based mobility on different routes and important sectors in the country. “These futuristic steps are in the right direction for making hydrogen as the ultimate net-zero fuel,” he said. The company would be setting up 1 metric ton/day hydrogen production pilot plants besides collaborating with Tata Motors for fuel cell research.
IOCL launched hydrogen-blended compressed natural gas (HCNG) plant in Delhi last year. It is running 50 HCNG buses in the pilot phase.