Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja Group flagship, has successfully developed a 6-cylinder, 6-litre 92 kW BS-4 hydrogen natural gas powered engine – developed over two years in association with Eden Energy, Australia. Greg Solomon, Eden’s Executive Chairman, said hythane, a blend of natural gas and hydrogen, is gaining increasing acceptance in India as a premium fuel. The addition of hydrogen improves efficiency, while retaining the low emission characteristics of compressed natural gas (CNG). The Financial Express reports that Ashok Leyland will start testing vehicles based on the hythane engines in the near future. “It requires approval from both Automotive Research Association of India of Pune and Controller of Explosives before it is used commercially.”
Concurrently, a 4-cylinder 4-litre 63 KW engine is being developed for H-CNG blend in a joint R&D programme with MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) and Indian Oil Corporation.
Application of these engines to buses is at an advanced stage at Ashok Leyland. The Company is also in discussions with Government Agencies regarding making Hythane available for commercial use in the future.
Ashok Leyland pioneered the use of CNG fuel for mass transportation in the country by rolling out India’s first CNG bus in 1997 in Mumbai. Today, over 5,500 Ashok Leyland CNG buses ply on the roads of Delhi, Ahmedabad, Vijayawada and Mumbai as well as certain overseas markets.
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