Tata Motors & ISRO Develop India's First Fuel Cell Bus

Few things I would like to know:
- Price of the fuel
- Availability of the fuel
- I am sure the fuel will not be available very soon in all the parts of India, so does that means this bus will be based on hybrid technology?

-CB

Using Hydrogen as fuel has a long been a cherished dream. It does not create pollution at the point of use. What about pollution at the time of generating hydrogen? Are there any methods known which will generate hydrogen without causing pollution? Sometime back there was a news in scientific circles that they have found some algae which produce H2. Most methods currently used are based on electrolysis and which requires electricity, generation of which in itself a significant contributor to pollution.

Prashant MunshiSometime back there was a news in scientific circles that they have found some algae which produce H2. Most methods currently used are based on electrolysis and which requires electricity, generation of which in itself a significant contributor to pollution.

We've talked about algae on CE a couple of times. Hows the viability of producing/cultivating algae in India?

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Well, that is something we talked about when talking about 'Electric Cars'. The overall emissions generated while generating electricity to charge the EV batteries would be much more. So sometimes, it all looks like a marketing gimmick to me. I may be wrong though.

We either need something that does the job on solar power or just put some geothermal energy to use.

I have interacted a bit with the scientists from the ISRO side while working at Trivandrum on some other issues. All that the item claims is that the bus runs on hydrogen fuel cell. Being a primary cell, it cannot be recharged and so no batteries. ISRO's role is only to the extent of developing the cryogenic storage of the fuel, which being liquid Hydrogen occupies less space and does not need pressure vessels, which are a hazard especially for hydrogen.
The fuel cell itself appears to be a TATA effort with ISRO assistance.
There is no mention of how the hydrogen itself was produced. I doubt if the problem of producing Hydrogen in bulk was addressed in this development. The project was more on the storage of fuel on board and the prime mover.



India has more than 300 days/year of good sunshine. Also growing algae is no major problem.



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In the above scheme, the photosynthetic reaction produces algal biomass, hydrogen and oxygen. If the Hydrogen is liquefied then it can be stored and delivered to the vehicles.

#-Link-Snipped-# - Couldn't find information about the source of the Hydrogen. What are your thoughts on the commercial viability of this vehicle? Plus, will extracting Hydrogen from water be a practical solution?

crazyboyFew things I would like to know:
- Price of the fuel
- Availability of the fuel
- I am sure the fuel will not be available very soon in all the parts of India, so does that means this bus will be based on hybrid technology?

-CB

This is definitely worth all the experimenting! I'd also like to know what is the mileage expected with relevance to other fuels.

@ crazyboy,
To answer your question,
1)price will be definitely high
2)availability-high but production methods cost us more
3)Its mot an hybrid as it purely runs on hydrogen
The use of hydrogen has not taken a sharp rise because of its cost of production.

Kaustubh Katdare#-Link-Snipped-# - Couldn't find information about the source of the Hydrogen. What are your thoughts on the commercial viability of this vehicle? Plus, will extracting Hydrogen from water be a practical solution?

An update:
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This is tech of the Greener future Hates of to the R&D team

Man the looks and tech marvel me a lot Will this be more effectively crunched down into lower end models we are looking at a Green revolution in vehicles