Indian govt launches five pilot projects for using Hydrogen in bus, trucks

Earlier, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had issued guidelines for implementing Pilot projects in the Transport Sector under this Mission.

Accordingly, the proposals were invited for different types of hydrogen-based vehicles, routes, and hydrogen refueling stations.

After detailed scrutiny, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has sanctioned five pilot projects consisting total of 37 vehicles (buses and trucks), and 9 hydrogen refueling stations.

The vehicles that will be deployed for the trial include 15 hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles and 22 hydrogen internal combustion engine-based vehicles.

These vehicles will run on 10 different routes across the country viz., Greater Noida – Delhi – Agra, Bhubaneshwar – Konark – Puri, Ahmedabad – Vadodara – Surat, Sahibabad – Faridabad – Delhi, Pune – Mumbai, Jamshedpur – Kalinga Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram – Kochi, Kochi – Edappally, Jamnagar – Ahmedabad, and NH-16 Visakhapatnam – Bayyavaram.

The above projects are awarded to major companies like TATA Motors Ltd, Reliance Industries Limited, NTPC, ANERT, Ashok Leyland, HPCL, BPCL, and IOCL.

The total financial support for selected projects made available will be around Rs. 208 Crore from the Government of India.

These pilot projects are likely to be commissioned in the next 18-24 months, paving the way to the scaleup of such technologies in India.

The thrust area for providing support under the scheme is the development of commercially viable technologies for the utilization of hydrogen in the transport sector as fuel in buses and trucks and Supporting infrastructure like Hydrogen refueling stations.

One of the objectives of the Mission is to support the deployment of Green Hydrogen as fuel in buses and trucks, in a phased manner on a pilot basis.

These pilot projects can demonstrate safe and secure operations, assess the effectiveness of hydrogen-based vehicles and refueling stations, validate technical feasibility and performance, and evaluate their economic viability, thereby leading to hydrogen-based vehicles and hydrogen refueling stations under real-world operational conditions.

The Scheme Guidelines for the implementation of Pilot projects for use of Green Hydrogen in the Transport Sector under the NGHM can be accessed here.

The National Green Hydrogen Mission was launched on 04th January 2023 with an outlay of Rs. 19,744 crores up to FY 2029-30. It will contribute to India’s goal to become Aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) through clean energy and serve as an inspiration for the global Clean Energy Transition.

The Mission will lead to significant decarbonization of the economy, reduced dependence on fossil fuel imports, and enable India to assume technology and market leadership in Green Hydrogen.