Select HPCL outlets sell Hydrodrive catalytic converters

Chennai: Car owners will soon find catalytic converters being sold in petrol bunks at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited's (HPCL) petrol bunks in Chennai.

Ten HPCL dealers have decided to stock the patented electronic catalytic converters made by the city-based Hydrodrive Systems and Controls Private Limited.

Priced at Rs6,600 per unit, a catalytic converter buyer at the specified HPCL bunks also gets Rs200 worth Power brand petrol or Turbojet diesel free. According to Hydrodrive Systems chairman and managing director S Gopalakrishnan, those who buy the product using ICICI Bank's credit card can repay the amount in nine instalments.

Outwardly a simple cylindrical product with two wires dangling to be connected to the battery and a small nozzle for fitting it to the fuel line, Hydrodrive is an automobile emission controller as well as fuel economiser that works by microwave heating of the fuel (petrol, diesel), thereby altering the fuel's molecular structure for optimum burning.

According to Gopalakrishnan, by retrofiting the Hydrodrive electronic catalytic converters each vehicle user travelling an average distance of 50 km per day would be able to offset the recent fuel price hike of Rs4 per litre for the petrol and Rs1.55 to Rs2.00 on diesel. "Depending upon the engine condition vehicles can meet the Bharat stage II to IV emission norms."