Hydrogen internal combustion engine may see faster commercialisation than hydrogen fuel cell electric: Girish Wagh, Tata Motors.
Girish Wagh, President, Tata Motors NSE -0.18 %. Wagh was speaking on the sidelines of the Auto Expo in Delhi, said:
In this journey to decarbonalise the logistics sector, from conventional fuels today, we will move into natural gas, then we will get into blended fuels, then electric batteries and also hydrogen as a fuel which is coming up.
“It appears that as a country, we are going to balance our portfolio of fuels from an energy security point of view.”
Tata Motors has set the target of net zero emission by 2045. How are you going about it, especially regarding the logistics or commercial vehicles segment?
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The logistics sector is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the world, accounting for almost 18%. We have decided to help de-carbonisation of this sector and play a leading role in that. Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles, we have decided that by 2045 we are going to have net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
In this journey, from the conventional fuels today we will move into natural gas, then we will get into blended fuels, then electric batteries and also hydrogen as a fuel which is coming up. It appears that as a country, we are going to balance our portfolio of fuels from an energy security point of view.
Now all this is being done for emission reduction, import reduction for the country as well as energy security. So if the basket is going to be multiple fuels, then as a company, we are supposed to be ready with multiple powertrain options and that is why in the Auto Expo, we have exhibited 14 concepts and products which include natural gas, battery for electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell electric as well as hydrogen cell internal combustion engine.
In addition to this, we have also showcased two new platforms and architectures which are fuel agnostic and they can work on conventional fuel engines right up to hydrogen internal combustion engines. That is the portfolio that we have shown here which clearly demonstrates our commitment to move towards 2045 net zero on greenhouse gas emissions.
2045 net zero emission is a big target that Tata Motors has set. Looking into 2045, what kind of a portfolio will you be having? Will EVs be the major part of it? How do you see that because if hydrogen is the next driver of energy, how much can EVs and hydrogen contribute and even the other fuel cell technologies that you are working on?
As we move on from 2023, there will be higher penetration of natural gas first from conventional fuels and then we will gradually start moving towards electric and hydrogen batteries. Now if you see the usage profile of commercial vehicles, shorter haul and lower payload is the smaller vehicles, more of intra city or city to satellite city. These applications will be used through electric battery. As we move up to long haul, heavy duty, electric battery probably may not be able to meet that requirement and therefore hydrogen is coming up as a very attractive proposition. Within hydrogen, there are two technologies; one is the fuel cell electric and the second is hydrogen internal combustion engine.
As we stand here today, it appears that hydrogen internal combustion engine probably may see the light of day in terms of commercialisation faster than hydrogen fuel cell electric because of internal combustion engine being more tolerant to lower purity of hydrogen and also it helps to use the entire IP as well as infrastructure that has already been there for internal combustion engine.
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Hydrogen internal combustion engine may see faster commercialisation than hydrogen fuel cell electric: Girish Wagh, Tata Motors, January 12, 2022
