Union Minister RK Singh promised that the government is prepared to fund the use of green hydrogen in the transportation sector

The Indian government is prepared to provide more funding to encourage the use of green hydrogen in the country's transportation industry. However, to do this, the nation's transportation industry will need to step up, invest in R&D, and create the technology necessary to use green hydrogen in heavy-duty trucks and buses.

This was stated by Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), RK Singh, during a meeting with business representatives regarding the application of green hydrogen in the transportation sector. According to him, businesses ought to focus more on the study and development of green hydrogen's potential applications in automobiles, two-wheelers, and three-wheelers.

Electricity and MNRE Minister Singh said that the government is ready to provide additional funds to this sector. Under the Green Hydrodon Mission, only Rs 496 crore has been allocated for the transport sector. He said that a national roadmap should be made regarding the possibilities of using green hydrogen in the transport sector. Without this, the work of reducing carbon emissions in the country cannot be done. Pilot projects should be started for the use of green hydrogen in this sector and a comparative study of the cost and other facts of vehicles running on green hydrogen and electric vehicles should also be done.

Only then will it be possible to make the best choice given the accurate facts and to create an additional roadmap. This roadmap should include all the details on how we will use green hydrogen for long-distance transportation, how we will build the necessary infrastructure, and how we will produce it domestically to cut costs. Options for utilising green hydrogen in vehicles or two-wheelers were also taken into consideration in this order.

It should be mentioned that a few private sector businesses are also pursuing the application of green hydrogen in the transportation industry, in addition to the government-owned Indian Oil. Distinguished private enterprises such as Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors are also operational. In September 2023, for the first time in the country, Indian Oil started operating buses running on green hydrogen cells.

A major feature of green hydrogen cells is said to be that they are more environmentally friendly than electric vehicles. There have been many reports regarding the threat to the environment from the batteries installed in electric vehicles. The problem is that the technology for green hydrogen cells has not yet been fully proven. The cost of green hydrogen is a major bottleneck in India. Its price is around 4-5 dollars per kg. Some companies in the country have set a target of reducing their costs to one dollar per barrel.