RIL and Ashok Leyland unveil India's first hydrogen-powered heavy-duty truck At India Energy Week.

At the Auto Expo 2023, the OEM recently demonstrated its futuristic vehicle range powered by electric and hydrogen options.

Reliance Industries (RIL) and Ashok Leyland have unveiled India's first heavy-duty truck powered by a hydrogen internal combustion engine (H2-ICE). The vehicle was launched at India Energy Week by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Both companies have spent the last year developing the one-of-a-kind technology, which has been tested since August 2022. The Ashok Leyland manufactured truck with two large hydrogen cylinders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the three-day event that is themed around 'Growth, Collaboration, Transition'.

Reliance said at the display alongside the hydrogen truck that using hydrogen saves 20% on fuel operating expenses over diesel ICE vehicles. It also results in a 10-15% noise reduction over diesel ICE vehicles.

According to sources, Reliance is testing about two dozen hydrogen-powered trucks in Gujarat.

India's first hydrogen-powered heavy-duty truck

The Ashok Leyland H2-ICE heavy-duty truck range (19-35 tonnes) is powered by hydrogen, with an overall architecture similar to a conventional diesel-based combustion engine, allowing for a faster transition to cleaner energy sources at a lower cost delta.

A sign near the truck stated that it was "India's first H2ICE technology truck on the road", where H2 is the hydrogen formula, and ICE stands for the internal combustion engine. When hydrogen is used as fuel instead of a conventional diesel or even recently introduced liquefied natural gas, the truck emits "near-zero emissions" (LNG).

"Ashok Leyland has always been a pioneer in introducing state-of-the-art technologies in the commercial vehicle space. We have once again demonstrated our technological leadership and commitment to the Clean Mobility Mission by collaborating with RIL. We want to continue our path of innovation and leveraging new technologies to be a leader in sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility, and we have one of the best R&D teams in the country." said Dr N Saravanan, President and CTO of Ashok Leyland.

At the Auto Expo 2023, the OEM recently demonstrated its futuristic vehicle range powered by electric and hydrogen options. As part of its net carbon zero vision, Reliance has been working with its vehicle partner Ashok Leyland and other technical partners to develop this unique technology since last year, with the first engines expected to run in early 2022.

In the coming months, Reliance will extensively test and validate the H2ICE technology for heavy-duty trucks before launching its first commercial deployment at scale across its captive fleet. Simultaneously, Reliance is exploring the possibility of developing an end-to-end Hydrogen ecosystem for mobility.

Use of Hydrogen

India is rapidly promoting the use of hydrogen, which can be generated by splitting water with electricity. The use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind qualifies it as green hydrogen.

Hydrogen has a wide range of applications, from refineries to steel plants and fertilizer plants, where it can be used to replace hydrocarbons. Hydrogen can also be used as a fuel in automobiles. However, this has not deterred companies from investing in hydrogen production.

Plans for a hydrogen truck

Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), a subsidiary of the Adani Group, signed an agreement in January to launch a pilot project to develop a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for mining logistics and transportation with Ashok Leyland, India, and Ballard Power, Canada.

The hydrogen mining truck will weigh 55 tonnes, have three hydrogen tanks, a working range of 200 kilometres, and be powered by Ballard's 120-horsepower engine.

The Adani Group previously announced plans to invest more than USD 50 billion in green hydrogen and associated ecosystems over the next ten years, corresponding to a capacity of up to 3 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually.

The three-year investment would propel Reliance to net-zero emissions status by 2035.

Currently, a 19-tonne truck can travel 100 kilometres on 6 kilograms of hydrogen, while a 35-tonne truck can travel the same distance on 8 kilograms of hydrogen.

The company is working on redesigning the hydrogen casket to hold more fuel and provide a 400-km range on a single fill.