To achieve carbon neutrality, most commercial vehicle (CV) players will take the following route: diesel (including biodiesel and ethanol-diesel blends), followed by CNG, bio-CNG, LNG, battery electric vehicle (BEV) and eventually hydrogen-based fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV).
Tata Motors, however, also wants to use hydrogen inside the existing internal combustion engine (ICE, which uses diesel and petrol/CNG as fuels) to power its trucks and buses. This technology is called hydrogen internal combustion engine (H2ICE).
Girish Wagh, executive director, Tata Motors, told FE that while the eventual goal of the automaker is BEVs and then FCEVs, there is a lot of exploratory work happening at Tata Motors in the area of H2ICE, in which the intellectual property and infrastructure of the ICE can be leveraged. “If it makes business sense, we will enter this area,” he said.
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