Sentient Labs, a Pune-based R&D innovation lab, has demonstrated India’s first indigenously developed hydrogen fuel cell bus. The bus runs on hydrogen fuel cell technology developed in collaboration with the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) and Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI) under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
In addition to the hydrogen fuel cell technology, Sentient Labs also indigenously designed and developed from the ground up other key components like the balance of plant, powertrain, and battery pack. All of these components have been deployed on a 9-meter, 32-seater, air-conditioned bus. This is designed to provide a range of 450 km while utilizing 30 kg of hydrogen. Modular architecture allows for changes in the design to suit requirements of range and operating conditions.
SentinentLabs
The fuel cell utilizes hydrogen and air to generate electricity to power the bus. The only effluent from the bus is water, therefore making it possibly the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation.
Ravi Pandit, chairman of Sentient Labs, said, “We are proud to launch an indigenously developed hydrogen fuel cell-powered bus. A strong technical team along with CSIR-NCL worked on several technology components. This will go a long way in powering Hydrogen Mission, AatmaNirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), and importantly sustainable mobility. We envision that the solution will see widespread adoption powered by several partnerships. Our efforts will also be pivotal in enabling vehicle makers and suppliers to build a net-zero carbon path in India.”
Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, Member of Board of Directors, Sentient Labs, said “World over, efforts related to green hydrogen revolution are on, but Sentient Labs stands out. At Sentient, challenges that are core to India are understood, and solutions are developed. Digitization, decentralization, and decarbonization are what India needs for sustainable mobility and these innovations from Sentient will go a long way.”
Incubated by KPIT Technologies Ltd, Sentient Labs’ vision is to build technology solutions for sustainable mobility with a current emphasis on hydrogen-powered technologies. It has identified bottlenecks in battery technology, fuel cell technologies, and technologies for hydrogen generation.
Recently, Sentient announced the world’s first technology to generate hydrogen directly from agricultural residue for use in fuel cell-powered vehicles. This technology adds to the line-up of efforts around sustainable mobility.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
2 comments
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.