bOne day when I was studying for class XII board exams, I had a huge chemistry textbook. Around 500 pages of organic chemistry and another 500 pages of inorganic chemistry. And I did pretty well in this subject, got 92 marks. This was in 1997, so don’t judge me by today’s numbers. And while the engineering option was open, in no small part because my grandfather was a chemical engineer, life had different plans. One where there was a bit of chemistry involved. Until now when the subject made a comeback in my life.
Gone are the days when vehicles were mechanical creatures, where a carburetor mixed fuel and air together and suspension settings could be changed with a screwdriver. You need to understand software to be able to change anything in a car today. Some things are simple, like changing the steering ‘weight’ or the softness of the suspension. Even small cars now have ‘modes’ like ‘Sport’ and ‘Eco’ where you can change the way your car behaves at the press of a button. And the likes of BMW M Series cars throw up a number of different settings, all of which can be accessed from the driver’s seat. For more ‘cool’ changes, you can change things like the compression ratio of the pistons (or remove the speed alarm) by plugging into a computer with the required port in the car.
So you need to understand the technology and software to change the character of the car. But as an automotive writer, I find myself digging into chemistry more and more. Inorganic chemicals, which are basically non-carbon chemicals, thanks to the development of electric vehicles. They force me to rack my brain for the electro-chemical properties of batteries – what are the advantages and disadvantages of one battery chemistry such as Lithium-NMC versus another, such as an LFD? Or keep an eye out for newer chemistries like sodium-ion and aluminum-ion. This, despite the knowledge required to understand the intricacies of the electrical grid and charging ecosystem.
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hydrogen push
Most vehicles run on hydrocarbons, chains of hydrogen and carbon atoms that make up natural gas, petrol, diesel and more. All from the realm of organic chemistry. And since cars run on petrol since, well, Karl Benz invented the car, even this space is seeing massive changes. I have written about the government’s plan to introduce more ethanol blending In the petrol that you fill everyday. But now there is the National Green Hydrogen Mission, a massive Rs 19,744-crore project that aims to produce five million tonnes of hydrogen cost-effectively by 2030.
There are articles on ThePrint website that explain the Modi government’s plans better, and I would recommend them to you. I am mentioning hydrogen here because the automotive sector will play an important role in the ambitious hydrogen push of the government. And my recent conversation with Rajeev Singh, partner and lead of the automotive practice at consultancy firm Deloitte India, made this abundantly clear.
There are a few hydrogen powered cars in India, one of which is the Toyota Mirai. It is used by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, who often jokes about the fact that his car needs to travel as far as Faridabad to refuel. Why Faridabad only? This is because India’s only hydrogen filling station owned by Indian Oil is located there. And as of the Auto Expo in January, it was under maintenance. Now he can take up practical issues related to fuel.
But Rajeev Singh says hydrogen will be the fuel of the future, especially for long-distance transport and certain types of cars, because of the government’s commitment to it. While the Mirai and various other hydrogen-powered vehicles made by BMW, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota use fuel-cell technology, Singh said he believes it will be hydrogen combustion that will drive the hydrogen push of the Indian automotive sector. Will run ,
A bit about fuel-cells and combustion. The latter is easy to understand: hydrogen will combust in the presence of oxygen and produce energy (and water). But storing this hydrogen is a challenge and the necessary modifications to car engines to burn the fuel are going to be an issue.
Fuel-cell technology is apparently simple. Fuel cells require less hydrogen, but require a lot of expensive metals such as platinum to act as an electrolyzer. In a fuel-cell, hydrogen and oxygen combine not to burn but to generate electricity. When I drove a Toyota Mirai in and around the Dhyan Chand Stadium a few years back, it often ran on power from a battery pack that stored the energy produced. In essence, a fuel-cell vehicle is similar to a hybrid.
Fuel cells are expensive. While they may make sense for larger applications such as trucks, and space vehicles, for mass adoption of hydrogen, Rajeev Singh says, combustion engines are the only way and should make possible new developments in hydrogen combustion.
There are issues surrounding hydrogen production, storage and most importantly transportation. One of the solutions that makes the fuel truly green is to use off-grid renewable sources of electricity to split water into oxygen and hydrogen and then convert the hydrogen into ammonia, which is a liquid, nitrogen. folded and then it is transported by truck. Or if the cost is sustainable, the pipeline. Then remove the nitrogen and retail the hydrogen at the distribution end. Chemistry sounds easy but it isn’t, admits Singh.
So why go for hydrogen when hydrogen adoption is fraught with challenges?
India remains a net importer of energy, even as some of the coal we need for thermal plants that power most Indian homes comes from Australia and South Africa. The move to ethanol, another push toward green fuels, is only a short-term fix. Singh says, “While the government is bullish on ethanol, the overall carbon benefits of blending ethanol produced from water-intensive crops are questionable. At hydrogen, the government in India and other governments around the world are looking more seriously. And it is on a large scale. But adoption has a way to go, especially in countries like India where we don’t have the significant resources needed for EV batteries.
Of course, people like Elon Musk have questioned the usefulness of hydrogen as a fuel. But India is onto something. Big challenges and pitfalls lie ahead, but here’s the thing – if you buy a car in 2030 or beyond, it may well run on hydrogen. But it also means that chemistry will continue to be in my life.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Thoughts are personal.
(Editing by Anurag Choubey)