In a boost to intercity CNG-based public transport, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday unveiled first long-distance CNG buses that can travel up to 1,000 km on a single fill of environment-friendly fuel.
While the government has been giving a big push for use of gas as a transportation fuel in cities, the use of the fuel that is cheaper than diesel on interstate public transport buses was inhibited by limited capacity.
As against steel storage cylinders on conventional CNG fitted buses stocking 80-100 kg of CNG, a new composite cylinder can take 225 to 275 kg, he said at an event to unveil five buses with higher capacity bottles.
The project, executed by Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), will see five buses initially plying between Delhi and Dehradun by the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC).
"The CNG fuel in the new composite cylinders is enough for the buses to make a round trip to Dehradun," he said adding similar pilots will soon be launched on buses going to Agra, Chandigarh, and Jaipur from Delhi.
Shortly, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will commercially launch hydrogen-mixed CNG that is more cleaner than compressed natural gas (CNG), he said.
"Delhi has witnessed a revolution in the shift towards cleaner, gas-based fuels," he said. "IGL was formed in 1998 to supply CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in the national capital and adjoining cities. Between 1998 and 2014, 340 CNG dispensing stations were set up. And in five years from 2014 alone, 175 new stations have been set up."
Piped natural gas connections have increased from 5 lakh to 12 lakh, he said. "Over 1,000 PNG connections are being provided daily in the national capital region (NCR)," he said. "Long haul CNG buses originating from Delhi to other locations will further drive this shift towards cleaner gas-based fuels. This will improve overall ease of living of people by mitigating the problem of air pollution, ensuring a cleaner environment and reducing waiting time at CNG stations."
The introduction of long-range CNG buses fitted with lightweight composite cylinders has the capacity to revolutionise the fight against air pollution across the nation. Even after shifting of the entire public transport fleet in the national capital to CNG as per the mandate of the Supreme Court, interstate buses coming from other cities to Delhi continued to run on diesel.
Delhi Transport Corporation had stopped all its interstate routes in 2001 due to the unavailability of CNG in the neighbouring states. CNG buses are on Indian roads for more than two decades now but due to on-board storage issues, these buses are having a range of 200-250 km per fill only.
Mahindra & Mahindra, and Agility Fuel Solutions of USA partnered with IGL for this project, involving introducing the new concept of lightweight Type IV composite cylinders in buses. These cylinders are 70 per cent lighter than the Type-I (all steel) cylinders which are being used in India currently, Pradhan said adding the main advantage of these cylinders is that due to its lighter weight, the number of cylinders can be increased in the vehicle thus creating more storage capacity on-board.
IGL has procured five Mahindra's Type-IV buses. The CNG buses would be given to UTC on a lease basis after the launch. These will ply on intercity routes from Delhi to Dehradun and will be the first such buses in Uttarakhand.
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