Indian Oil to Deploy 50 Hydrogen-CNG Buses

State-run Indian Oil Corporation plans to deploy 50 buses using hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG) as fuel on the roads of Delhi in the coming days, company chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said on October 1.

“IOC has a research and development centre in Faridabad near Delhi and we are doing a lot of research on hydrogen…. In coming days we plan to run 50 HCNG buses,” Vaidya said during a webinar organised by ETEnergyWorld. The company has a HCNG depot in Rajghat in Delhi which is ready to be commissioned.

The Indian government permitted the use of HCNG as an automobile fuel earlier this week. The ministry of road transport and highways has allowed a CNG mix of up to 18% hydrogen to be used in engines. The Bureau of Indian Standards has also set specifications for HCNG for automotive purposes, the ministry said.