IIT BHU students launch hydrogen-powered vehicular prototype

We have long known that hydrogen-powered vehicles are a massive step towards green mobility. It is not only non-toxic (the combustion produces only water and no carbon dioxide) but also cheap, producing three times as much energy as an equivalent quantity of petrol. These hydrogen-powered vehicles can be easily refueled and have longer ranges than that of the battery-powered vehicles.

This team of IIT BHU students is the first student-based community in India to have built it. This team of automobile enthusiasts is called Averera, designing and developing the hydrogen-powered Urban-concept car at the Asia leg of the Shell Eco-marathon 2020.

According to Shubham Yadav, these hydrogen-powered vehicles improve air quality and climate to a great extent. He said, “While EVs require significant time for recharging its battery, fuel cell vehicles can be refueled with H-gas easily like a petrol/diesel car.” As far as the safety of vehicles is concerned, the hydrogen has posited a threat regarding its production, storage and transportation. However, Rishabh Singh of Electronics at Averera said, “Research on the safe production of the gas, its storage at hydrogen stations and installations of the fuel cell is on progress in the industries.”

Founded in 2013, team Averera had the vision to develop India’s most effective EV. “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. This concept of a vehicular prototype that shall be hydrogen-powered was proposed back in 2019, and took a period of at least 10 months to be fashioned into a manufactured prototype. It included aerodynamics, aesthetics and optimal weight distribution for maneuverability and driver safety. 

However, there are certain safety rules that are already added for onboard hydrogen-safety in the prototype. “We have developed a hydrogen detection sensor to detect the presence of the gas in the driver and fuel cell compartments,” Singh added. If a malfunction occurs or in case the gas is leaking, there is a choice to kill the circuit automatically and stop the vehicle. 

Tanamy Goyal who handled controls for Averera told that to incorporate the hydrogen-powered technology in their vehicular prototype, team Averera dug into the research work by companies like Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo. He further added, “We introduced re-energising of the energy dissipated in braking to produce hydrogen on board while driving the car.”

As the world takes a better step towards green mobility, there is an increasing number of auto manufacturers and startups who are continually investing in hydrogen technology. The Government of India has recently asked for suggestions from the respective stakeholders regarding the introduction of hydrogen-enriched CNG as an automotive fuel.

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