Date:05/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/05/stories/2007010511390500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Daimler open to making vehicles that run on fuel cell

Staff Reporter

The company is studying the Indian market, says official

Fuel supplied in India has 500 PPM sulphur

U.S. using fuel with sulphur level of 15 PPM

BANGALORE: Daimler Chrysler, makers of Mercedes-Benz, is open to the suggestion that it could manufacture automobiles that run on petroleum and "fuel cell" available in India.

Fuel Cell is a technology that produces the energy required to run vehicles using oxygen in the air and hydrogen supplied to it producing water in the process.

The company's global head of technology, Thomas Weber, said such automobiles were operational in the U.S. He said that the company was studying the Indian market.

"We see India as an important market for growth," he said. He said that Bluetec technology, which provides for the cleanest diesel engine, had been introduced in the U.S. It would be launched in Europe and Japan soon. But the fuel available in the India was not good enough for use in the technology, he said. Bharat Balasubramanium, head of passenger vehicle development unit of the company, said the technology required fuel that had sulphur levels of fewer than 50 parts per million (PPM).

He said that the fuel supplied in India had 500 PPM sulphur. The U.S. was using fuel with sulphur level of 15 PPM from October 2005. Countries such as Sweden in Europe were using low-sulphur fuel and introducing the technology there was feasible.