Indian Navy to start trials of a hydrogen fuel cell bus
The hydrogen fuel cell bus the Indian Navy plans to deploy for trial purposes has fuel tanks that store 30 kg of hydrogen at a 350-bar pressure. It takes 15 minutes to refuel and delivers a range of 300-350 km.
The Indian Navy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IOCL to deploy hydrogen fuel cell technology for heavy-duty electric mobility. IOCL sources hydrogen fuel cell buses from Tata Motors. It ordered 15 units in 2021 to evaluate them for inter- and intra-city commutes. The test unit IOCL handed over is a 12-metre low-floor bus featuring two doors and 35 seats.
The evaluation unit IOCL supplied to the Indian Navy almost certainly features Ballard Power Systems’ 70 kW FCmove-HD fuel cell stack. It looks the same as the first of the 15 units it sourced from Tata Motors in September 2023. Tata Motors confirmed while delivering the inaugural unit to the company that it features a 70 kW fuel cell stack. In July 2021, Ballard Power Systems announced that the 15 FCEVs the Indian bus manufacturer plans to supply to IOCL will have its 70 kW FCmove-HD fuel cell stack.
The Indian Army also supports the government’s initiatives to popularise hydrogen fuel cell technology in heavy-duty commercial vehicles. Just back in May, it obtained a hydrogen fuel cell bus from IOCL for trial purposes. IOCL expects each of its 15 hydrogen fuel cell buses to run at least 20,000 km and help it study the technology with a total test mileage of 300,000 km.
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