“Winter is coming!”, said Ned Stark from the most famous series ever made, ‘Game Of Thrones’. The line, in the series, was meant as a warning for the ‘House of The North’, to be vigilant of the harsh cold winters. The nights become freezing and days become tough. After the end of the final season of the series, it is now time that the residents of Delhi borrow this motto line from the Starks!
Delhi winters are not only harsh in terms of weather but are also difficult because of the intense pollution. The visibility drops to dangerous levels as thick smog blankets Delhi for the months from December to February. The entire city coughs, heavily.
Well, the hint to solve the problem lies in the all new Hydrogen Fuel Cell Buses, the trial of which has already started in Delhi. How will Hydrogen Fuel help Delhi during winters? Who is manufacturing these buses for the Government of India, and why are these buses relevant to the roads of the capital city?
Prevention Better Than Cure: The Delhi Winter Pollution
Arrival of winters in Delhi needs preparedness amongst the authorities. Following this, the Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena ordered the concerned authorities to start taking preventive measures, and not wait for the winters to get despotic. In a meeting conducted on 21st September 2024 with the chairpersons of the MCD, the Commission on Air Quality Management, the Public Works Department and others, the LG has directed all the authorities to start taking remedial actions to tackle Delhi winter pollution, early on. This may include incorporating smoke towers on the roofs of high rise buildings, setting staggered office timings to manage vehicular pollution, incorporating more work-from-home schedules and extending ban on fire crackers. All these preventive steps can save Delhi from winter smog.
Amongst these preventive measures, what also cannot be ignored is uncontrolled ‘vehicular pollution’, which contributes the most (approximately 38%) to the smog in Delhi. Adding to this, people of the city also do not hesitate to use personal vehicles to commute during winters because relying on public transport is not an option. The modern day public transport of Delhi stands incapable in catering to its increasing population. Yet, 60% of the city’s citizenry turns to public transport to commute daily. And so, ignoring it is impossible.
DTC buses, Delhi Metro, and e-rickshaws dominate the public transport system of Delhi. While the first two ensure that the north of the city is connected to the South, the latter provides last mile connectivity into the slim lanes. The electric rickshaws and metro provide green transport, but focus on the DTC bus services is missing. It is only after inspecting the buses of Delhi, that we can completely go green in terms of mobility.
The city holds the largest fleet of old and dying DTC buses. On an average, nearly 3.2 million Delhites commute using buses daily. Buses are also the most used mode of transport by the working class, because it is the cheapest. In 2019, The AAP government further pushed bus mobility by introducing pink tickets. These special tickets are for the women commuters, and are free of cost.
In spite of their huge importance, DTC buses suffer infrastructural failures. Old CNG buses break down on the roads frequently, causing huge traffic congestion and commuter disruption. According to the daily newspaper Times of India, an average of five DTC buses break down everyday causing huge traffic jams.
Indian Oil Saves the Day for DTC Buses
Last year in September 2023, the union transport minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched the trail of the first ever hydrogen fuel bus on ‘Kartavya Path’, the most important road of Delhi which runs between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate. This move was welcomed by the state government because hydrogen fuel cell buses are more efficient and promote green mobility. The aim is to introduce more and more of such buses to replace the old and worn out ones.
The operational trial of hydrogen fuel cell buses has been taken up by the largest oil and gas PSU in India, The Indian Oil Corporation. The IOC has partnered with the Indian Navy to test and further expand the use of green hydrogen fuel technology in public transport. Another private sector company that is part of the collaboration is Tata Motors, responsible for manufacturing these buses.
Magic of Green Hydrogen Economy
Hydrogen fuel cells use hydrogen to generate electricity and produces only water and heat as its by-products. In this way, the buses will not only solve the problem of bus breakdowns, but will also help solve thick pollution during winters. Alongside, these hydrogen buses will also give a more comfortable commute to Delhi residents, which will encourage them further to take up public transport. The runtime of hydrogen fuel cell buses is also more in comparison to the already running DTC buses, with an average driving range of 300 to 350 km using 30 KG tanks of hydrogen fuel.
Introduction of these hydrogen buses will give a boost to India’s Green Hydrogen Economy. According to India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission, production of green hydrogen fuel will help to create six lakh jobs in the country, reduce import of fossil fuels, bring down the annual greenhouse emission by 50 million metric tonnes and will also attract investment worth eight lakh crore from within the country and abroad.
Green Hydrogen Technology is the latest innovation, and therefore its availability is scanty. And so, the coming together of the private sector, the public sector and the Indian armed forces will prove to be useful. It will boost India’s Green Hydrogen economy and will push India towards a more eco-sustainable model. Such collaborations should not only be celebrated, but also should be taken as examples to create collaboration in other sectors of renewable energy.
It is the union of the public, private and government forces that is required in India today to solve the big problems of pollution, employment, economy, and unemployment, all in one.
