hydrogen fuel cell

India’s First Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car Successfully Tested

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and KPIT successfully ran trials of India’s first Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) prototype car running on an indigenously developed fuel cell stack at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune.

They have successfully developed a 10 kWe automotive grade LT-PEMFC fuel cell stack based on CSIR’s know-how. The heart of the PEM fuel cell technology includes the membrane electrode assembly, which is wholly a CSIR know-how.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) technology uses chemical reactions between hydrogen and oxygen (from air) to generate electrical energy, eliminating the use of fossil fuels.

hydrogen fuel cell

The fuel cell stack uses extremely thin metal bipolar plates, thus reducing the stack weight by about two-thirds.

Further, the fuel cell technology emits only water, thus cutting down the emission of harmful greenhouse gases along with other air pollutants.

The FC vehicle is fitted with a Type III commercial hydrogen tank. Its capacity is around 1.75 Kgs of H2 stored at about 350 bar pressure, the FC vehicle should run for approximately 250 Km range under typical Indian road conditions at moderate speed of 60-65 Km/hr.

The entire fuel cell stack and its associated components with power train were retro-fitted in a standard 5-seater sedan car.

This will not only reduce the petrol, diesel import bill for India but hydrogen is the cleanest fuel with water as the only by-product.

Reference- livemint, HT Auto, CSIR PR, Financial Express, The India Express