Nitin Gadkari Details Plans Of Targeted Pricing Of Green Hydrogen

The plan is to price green hydrogen around Rs 70 to 80 per kg or one dollar mark, while the government continues the feasibility study of fuel cell EVs (FCEVs) in India

At a recently held event, Union Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari, highlighted the government’s plans to price green hydrogen somewhere around Rs 70 to Rs 80 per kg or one dollar mark. This comes a few months after the government started conducting feasibility studies for introducing fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in India.

How Different Are FCEVs From Regular Electric Vehicles?

The primary difference between an FCEV and an electric vehicle is that the former has fuel cells using hydrogen to produce electricity to power the electric motors of the vehicle and does not require external charging. In an electric vehicle, there’s a much larger battery pack, which derives power from an external electricity source.

Cost Of Production Of Green Hydrogen And India’s Route Map

Production of green hydrogen costs between three and four dollars per kg (~Rs 230 and Rs 350 per kg). All major economies, including India, are working towards reducing this to bring it to around one or two dollars a kilogram (~Rs 80 or 150 per kg).

On August 15, 2021, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Hydrogen Mission. Its aim is to help the government in meeting its climate targets and making India a green hydrogen hub. This will result in a target production of five million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030.

Hydrogen-powered Cars In The World

For now, there are only two mass-market cars available in the world which run on hydrogen: the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo. The Mirai offers a range of 647km on a single tank of hydrogen fuel (5.6kg of H2). So, considering the targeted price of Rs 70 per kg for hydrogen, the sedan’s running cost would be around Rs 1.65 per km.

Over the past few months, Nitin Gadkari has been using the Toyota Mirai as his daily driver in Delhi. The Indian government’s automotive testing agency, iCAT (International Centre for Automotive Technology), has also been testing the Mirai to observe how the hydrogen-powered vehicle performs in Indian conditions, both in terms of climate and the roads.