Daimler Truck Innovation Centre India (DTICI) is undertaking technology developments in the country that will be used in commercial vehicles globally. The DTICI is developing hydrogen-based fuel cells that will give a range of up to 1,000 km for commercial electric vehicles.

The innovation centre in Bengaluru will serve as the backbone of technology that will facilitate the use of zero-emission vehicles.

For heavy-duty trucks, batteries will not give the range required as many batteries have a 500 to 600 km range and for heavy-duty trucks it is not good enough. This is where our dual strategy comes in to play with a hydrogen-based fuel cell that will extend the range up to 1,000 km, said Raghavendra Vaidya, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, DTICI.

Zero Emission

As the automobile industry moves its focus to electric vehicles, the development of charging infrastructure for commercial vehicles remains a concern.

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“OEMs are experimenting with hydrogen in city buses but the problem is in its generation and distribution as hydrogen is not easy to store. Hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2 ICE) will be experimented within India,” he said.

Supply issues

While the supply of vehicles is picking up in the passenger vehicle segment, the supply of commercial vehicles continues to be a challenge.

We continue to have semiconductor shortages, and, as a result, many trucks are still in our manufacturing facilities, he said.

R&D in India

“We are undertaking product engineering, development of advanced analytics by harnessing the power of data so that companies operate in a better way,“ he added. 

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