IIT BHU Varanasi researchers have launched New Hydrogen-Technology Vehicular Prototypes

 IIT BHU(Indian Institute of Technology,Varanasi) students have recently designed and developed new hydrogen powered vehicular prototypes. Hydrogen power vehicles have been proclaimed so long as to promote green mobility. 

These vehicles have few advantages like quick refueling and longer ranges than that of the battery-powered vehicles.

The IIT BHU  students called Averera have become one of the first student based communities in India to have designed and developed the hydrogen-powered Urban-concept car at the Asia leg of the Shell Eco-marathon 2020.

According to Shubham Yadav, hydrogen fueled cars have the capacity to improve air-quality and the climate to a great extent . "While EVs require significant time for recharging its battery, fuel cell vehicles can be refuelled with H-gas easily like a petrol/diesel car," he said.

While in terms of the safety angle of hydrogen in vehicles, its production, storage and transportation have posed a threat to safety. However, "research on the safe production of the gas, it's storage at hydrogen stations and installation of the fuel cell is on progress in the industries", says Rishabh Singh of Electronics at Averera.

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Averera was first founded in 2013 with a goal to develop the most efficient EV of India. "Later, we found Shell Eco-marathon as an international platform that has a similar vision of efficient mobility," says Dr Amitesh Kumar, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering at IIT (BHU) and the team mentor.

The concept of a hydrogen powered vehicle was first proposed in 2019 which took a period of at least 10 months to be converted into a manufactured prototype. It consists of aerodynamics, aesthetics and optimal weight distribution for maneuverability and driver safety.

The student team has introduced some safety rules for onboard hydrogen-safety in the prototype. "We have developed a hydrogen detection sensor to detect the presence of the gas in driver and fuel cell compartments," adds Singh.

 In case of gas leakage or malfunctioning, there is a choice to kill the circuit automatically and bring the vehicle at halt.

With the advent of green mobility and advanced technology, the trend of more and more startups and other auto manufacturers have exponentially grown around the world. The large scale investments are nowadays being made in the field of hydrogen technology.

To incorporate the hydrogen technology in the vehicle, the student team followed research work by companies like Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo, Tanmay Goyal who handled controls for Averera, tells HT Auto. 

"We introduced re-energising of the energy dissipated in braking to produce hydrogen on board while driving the car."

The Govt. of India has recently proposed to invite suggestions from stakeholders for introducing hydrogen enriched CNG as an automotive fuel.