The technological advancements are shaping a new era of transportation and last mile delivery. As the medium and heavy vehicle industry grows, several technological innovations such as CNG, LNG and green hydrogen will be driving the growth of the commercial vehicle industry going ahead, according to experts, during the 3rd edition of Indian Commercial Vehicle Conclave, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry, Northern Region on July 18.
Improvement in Diesel Engines
Anjali Pandey, Chief Operating Office, Cummins Ltd said that India’s journey, in terms of commercial vehicles and transportation is going to be a continuous improvement journey. “What is very important is introducing the right technology at the right times such that it can satisfy its own fleet, which is not only fueled by incentives and FAME Schemes,” said Pandey. According to Pandey, the company’s goal is to enhance diesel engines to achieve top-tier performance. The company is already working on low carbon fuels on the engines in order to reduce carbon footprint.According to Pandey, Cummins Ltd is also working on building its CNG and LNG portfolio.
Greener fuels
According to Sujoy Chaudhary, Director, Indian Oil Corporation, one of the challenges for the heavy and very heavy sector in the mining industry is the fuel that is sustainable. “The existing field bouquet that we have, we are trying to make that (fuel) more greener. By greener, we are trying to make those who fuel more energy efficient, less carbon intensive,” said Chaudhary. Chaudhary observed that extra green diesel would be one alternative, that can increase fuel efficiency by upto 5%. “We have a product called extra green diesel, which increases the fuel efficiency by 5%. It has a combination of three oils or lubricants--the engine oil, transmission oil and the gear oil,” said Chaudhary.
Biodiesel
Another trend going ahead that will drive growth of the domestic medium and heavy vehicle industry, according to Indian Oil’s Chaudhary is Biodiesel. “Biodiesel is an imperative we all know and we are seeing how things are taking shape, especially in Europe… India has significantly moved to 40 crore litres last year in production of biodiesel. And we have sourced this and we have blended this. The mandate of the government is to improve biodiesel blend to 5% by 2030. And we have gradually seeing attraction towards all these traders who aggregate these all these ingredients for manufacturing of biodiesel, and then gradually going to positively see some movement inwards so that we can blend this biodiesel going forward,” said Chaudhary. According to Chaudhary, going ahead, biodiesel is likely to contribute 3.5-4% in terms of fuel efficiency.
Liquified Natural Gas (LNG)
Chaudhary said that LNG is one sunrise area which is gaining traction amongst the medium and heavy vehicle industry. “In India, if I assume that 40% of my diesel consumption goes to everyday medium and heavy vehicle segments, and I convert 10% of that to LNG, my consumption goes up to three and a half 4 billion which is significant,” observed Chaudhary.
Notably, several original equipment manufacturers such as Ashok Leyland are already working on LNG technology for medium and heavy commercial vehicles. According to Chaudhary, LNG reduces CO2 emission patterns by 25-30% and CO2 by 70%. “Indian Oil has moved from four and a half million to six and a half billion last year in LNG, and we thought we would reach around 8 billion tons of total gas supplies this year. So there is a significant journey going forward,” said Chaudhary.
Green Hydrogen
Chaudhary observed that another technology that will drive the growth of the domestic commercial vehicle industry is green hydrogen. “I think green hydrogen is like, maybe 5-10 years away. In fact, Europe has shifted their green hydrogen target from 2025 to 2030. The total manufacturing capacity globally around the world is only 2 million at the moment,” according to Chaudhary.