Move over CNG, a hydrogen auto?

The Rochester Hills (Michigan)-based Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) has successfully converted and developed a CNG-run three-wheeler of Bajaj Automobiles into one run on hydrogen fuel.

With trial runs earlier this year, in extreme cold climatic conditions, giving a mileage of 130 km per 900 gm of hydrogen (equivalent to four litres of petrol), scientists believe the end product could yield much more.

After the first vehicle conversion at ECD, a Bajaj automotive engineer was trained in the conversion process. Another CNG auto is being converted at the Bajaj headquarters using the conversion kit provided by ECD.

‘‘Now it is awaiting trial runs, before commercial launch,’’ Stan Ovshinsky, ECD founder, told The Sunday Express.

The vehicle has already created ripples in the Indian auto industry and government circles. A high-level Indian delegation visited ECD in April, which included members from Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, TVS, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti, Eicher, Cummins India, Society of Indian Automotives Manufacturers and the Automotive Research Association of India.

A month later, Principal Scientific Advisor R. Chidambaram dropped in to have a look. He also had a ride on the hydrogen-run three-wheeler on May 19.

The hydrogen-fuel autorickshaw project has been led by Krishna Sapru, an Indian American scientist. Having spent over 30 years in developing alternative fuel technologies, she has as many as 30 patents to her credit.

‘‘Use of hydrogen as an alternative clean fuel can help reduce our dependence on foreign oil and thus make significant contributions to energy security, and clean air,’’ Sapru said.

Sapru said work on the project started soon after a contract was signed with USAID and DOE in February 2004. A CNG-engine was imported from Bajaj in a few weeks and the autorickshaws arrived in November.

‘‘By this time 96-98 per cent of the conversion process was over and we fitted the (hydrogen) engine in the vehicle. For the next few months, it went for rigorous tests which included starting and running under temperatures below freezing level,’’ she said.

One attractive factor is the amount of fuel which needs to be stored on an average Indian three-wheeler is a fraction of what is needed for automobiles favoured by US consumers. ‘‘The smaller storage capacity significantly reduces technological challenges in introducing the vehicles into the Indian market. For this we use ECD’s safe, solid-state hydrogen storage technology which fits in the same space of the existing fuel tank,’’ she said.

There are about 24 lakh three-wheelers in India, according to official estimates—most of them run on petrol except for about 70,000 in Delhi that run on CNG.

But hydrogen fuel still faces a huge hurdle: the cost. Scientists are at work to make the fuel economic to conquer the next frontier in energy.