The Hindu Business Line : ISRO rocket tech to rev up Tatas’ hydrogen car

Bangalore, Nov. 23 ISRO and Tata Motors are working together to bring out environment-friendly, hydrogen-driven automobiles using the newly tested cryogenic engine technology, according to the ISRO Chairman, Mr G. Madhavan Nair.

“One immediate application of our cryogenic technology is in automobiles. We are working with the Tatas to see how best a proto model can be put on road by next year,” Mr Nair said.

ISRO and Tata Motors had signed an MoU for joint development of the clean auto technology last year.

A pilot vehicle will be tried out next year, Mr Nair said, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific regional Space Agency Forum meeting that opened here on Thursday.

Currently, ISRO sources advanced composites, solar panels and yokes for spacecraft from Tata Advanced Materials.

Liquid hydrogen

The technology to handle liquid hydrogen, he said, is a major spin-off of the indigenous cryogenic upper stage project, which ISRO demonstrated earlier this month.

Having used liquid hydrogen for many years in launchers, “We know how to handle hydrogen and the Tatas are good at making cars,” he added. “Hydrogen is going to be the fuel for the next generation. If we succeed, we can have a transport system that runs on hydrogen and even cars to an extent can switch over.”

GLOBAL EFFORTS

When the Tata hydrogen bus/car – in the making for a few years now – comes out, it would be joining the global brigade of auto majors BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Ford and General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan and Hyundai — apart from domestic Reva electric car makers the Mainis.

At a time when everyone is trying to control pollution, a hydrogen-based, engine-less vehicle with water vapour as emission, Mr Nair said, would be a good solution for the future.

The hitch: India is yet to develop its own fuel cell technology — to convert hydrogen into electricity. The cells for the ISRO-Tata project have been imported, though CSIR, ISRO’s VSSC and many others are indigenising it.

According to Mr Gnanagandhi, who steered the cryo upper stage project, is now Programme Director at ISRO’s Directorate of Quality & Reliability and also works with the joint project, a hydrogen bus would be tried out first and then a car. Forty kg of hydrogen loaded on a bus could run up to 300 km.

Hydrogen being expensive to produce, a vehicle based on this fuel could cost thrice the conventional one. This can be got economically from many industries that are wasting it as a by-product. Up to 3,000 buses can be converted, he said. The big opportunity would be the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games by when buses have to go the hydrogen way.

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