Can aircraft engine tech power sustainable road transport?
Listen to how a Chennai start up is trying to use gas turbine tech for decarbonizing road transport
We will be having the irrepressible Rohit Grover talk about his startup Aerostrovilos Energy‘s work on microturbines and why he thinks it has a pretty good chance of making a difference to heavy vehicle decarbonization in India.
𝐀𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐢 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩, 𝐌𝐚𝐫 18, 10 𝐚𝐦 – 2 𝐩𝐦, Haddows Club, Nungambakkam
Organized by the Chennai Climate Consortium.
Let me start off by telling you a little big secret: Trucks & heavy commercial vehicles constitute about 2% of all vehicles on Indian roads (little indeed) but also constitute 40% of all road transport CO2 emissions (that’s big). Dock this in your mind: 2% & 40%
While we zip around on our pretty electric scooters and feel good about it, the elephant in the road CO2 emissions room hangs around, undisturbed.
So why aren’t folks trying to do something about electrification of trucks? Because it’s real difficult, that’s why. Trucks travel long distances (massive batteries required, adding massive weight & cost), they need to charge these large batteries (lots of time).
Sure, there are intrepid startups worldwide working on electrifying trucks (though mostly through hydrogen as a fuel) but battery-based or fuel cell based electrification of Indian trucks appears some – perhaps a long – distance off.
Enter folks like Rohit.
His startup Aerostrovilos is developing Aero Engine Turbine based solutions for trucks as an alternative to running diesel trucks. It is fuel agnostic, low emission and scalable solution that also provides affordable options for truck users with a quick payback.
He is trying to use gas turbines for running these trucks. Seriously? Gas turbines, did I say?
Gas turbines typically have been a tech for the aircraft or grid power plants. This will perhaps be for the first time (in the world?) that a startup has gone out and tried using an aircraft engine tech for mass commercialisation. The startup’s technology has been patented in partnership with IITM, and will be available for trucks and perhaps as an off highway generator.
Now, I’m gonna to stop here because I do not wish to steal Rohit’s thunder when he hits the story pod at the workshop, and also because this has hit the limit of my understanding.
𝐃𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐨𝐡𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 e𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐭 (𝘯𝘰, 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵!) 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐈𝐈𝐓 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫, talk about his technology and his startup’s journey on Mar 18, 2023 at the Haddows Club, Nungambakkam.
𝐓𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩, 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐮 9952910083
See my LinkedIn post on this topic
