India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and KPIT successfully ran trials of India’s first Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) prototype car running on an indigenously developed fuel cell stack at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune.
The fuel cell is a low temperature PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) type Fuel Cell that operates at 65-75 degree centigrade, which is suitable for vehicular applications, India’s Ministry of Science & Technology specified in a statement released on 10th October.
CSIR and KPIT have successfully developed a 10 kWe automotive grade LT-PEMFC fuel cell stack based on CSIR’s know-how.
The heart of the PEM fuel cell technology includes the membrane electrode Assembly, which is wholly a CSIR knowhow.
KPIT brought in their expertise in stack engineering which included light-weight metal bipolar plate and gasket design, development of the balance of plant (BoP), system integration, control software and electric powertrain that enabled running the fuel cell vehicle.
The fuel cell stack uses extremely thin metal bipolar plates, thus reducing the stack weight by about two-thirds.
