Hydrogen as Automotive Fuel ? Government lists measures in Parliament

In a written reply in Lok Sabha today, Shri R.K. Singh , Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy highlighted the various measures taken by government to promote Hydrogen as Automotive fuel in India. The minister was answering questions raised by Shri Jagdambika Pal seeking progress on National Hydrogen Energy Mission.

Progress on National Hydrogen Mission

The minister informed the Parliament that in her Budget Speech on 1 February 2021, the Finance Minister announced the launch of a Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating Hydrogen from green power sources. Accordingly, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has drafted a National Hydrogen Energy Mission document which would inter-alia aim to scale up Green Hydrogen production and utilization across multiple sectors, including transportation. The draft Mission document is currently under inter-ministerial consultation.

Hydrogen as Automotive Fuel: Regulations & Standards

Further, in September 2016, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has notified Hydrogen as a fuel for automotive application for Bharat Stage VI vehicles. In September 2020, MoRTH has specified the safety and type approval requirements for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 157. Also, in September 2020, 18% blend of Hydrogen with CNG (HCNG) has been notified as an automotive fuel.

Research on Hydrogen Fuel Cell

An R&D project titled “Design and Development of 20 kW Low Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell with high indigenous content” has been sanctioned by MNRE to International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, Chennai at a total project cost of Rs 21.42 crores (with MNRE share of Rs 17.74 crore). Rs 7.9 crores has been released under this project in 2019-2020.

Further, Department of Science and Technology has launched Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Program and Advanced Hydrogen and Fuel Cell program to support research on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell. The details of the funds released by DST for research and development of Hydrogen.

Hydrogen Vehicles across India:

Various hydrogen powered vehicles have been developed and demonstrated under projects supported by Government of India. These include:

• 6 Fuel Cell buses (by Tata Motors Ltd.),
• 50 hydrogen enriched CNG (H-CNG) buses in Delhi (by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. in collaboration with Govt. of NCT of Delhi),
• 2 hydrogen fuelled Internal Combustion Engine buses (by IIT Delhi in collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra),
• 15 hydrogen fuelled 3-wheelers (by IIT Delhi in collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra),
• 2 Hydrogen-Diesel dual fuel cars(by Mahindra & Mahindra) and
• 1 fuel cell car (by CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, CSIR-Central Electrochemical Laboratory and CSIR-National Physical Laboratory).