Galle Fort to get green hydro-powered tuk-tuks

Thursday, 10 May 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

World Heritage site Galle Fort will soon have environmentally-friendly hydrogen three-wheelers plying its preserved streets, as the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) launches a pilot project to test green transportation in Sri Lanka.

Three-wheelers are banned in the UNESCO World Heritage Galle Fort due to their emissions, but with the use of hydrogen-powered zero emission wheelers, there will be no hazard whatsoever, assures UNIDO officials. In fact, the test site has been chosen intentionally to demonstrate the high quality, non-polluting nature of hydrogen fuel, a press release by the Industry and Commerce Ministry said.

“UNIDO is planning the pilot project in Galle where hydrogen-powered three-wheelers supported by a mini hydrogen filling station will show us how to implement this new technology in the country,” UNIDO National Director Nawaz Rajabdeen was quoted as saying in the statement.

Rajabdeen announced this in the aftermath of his discussion with Vittorio Coco, the Consultant and Adviser of Sri Lanka’s first hydrogen-powered pilot project, which is set to test hydrogen-powered three-wheelers (tuk-tuks) in Galle Fort. The one-year-long pilot project in Sri Lanka is modelled on ‘HyAlfa,’ the world’s first hydrogen-powered three-wheeler unveiled in India in January 2012 by Mahindra & Mahindra. At mass production levels, the hydrogen-powered Indian tuk-tuks are estimated to cost only 12% in comparison to standard three-wheelers used there. Mahindra’s HyAlfa’s report 80 km mileage for just one kilogram of hydrogen.

“UNIDO is also planning to bring down Indian experts at the official announcement in Colombo in mid-June” Nawabdeen revealed.

The Sri Lanka pilot project will use 15 hydrogen-powered zero emission three-wheelers in Galle Fort and monitor them carefully for pollutant-free runs. It is slated as a private public-partnership venture in which the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, UNIDO, three-wheeler drivers’ associations, environment and pro-green organisations, local three-wheeler assemblers (such as David Pieris Motor Company, which assembles Bajaj three-wheelers in Hambantota), importers and Line Ministries of Energy and Environment.

“The most important outcome from the Galle test will be the understanding we will gain on how to use hydrogen fuel across Sri Lanka’s small-scale and SME transport sector, which will then be expanded to the larger transport sector, including motor transport and fishing boats,” said Coco, adding, “Existing three-wheelers will not need to be remanufactured but only need simple alterations to the engine and fuel tank.”