India urges for local hydrogen-powered vehicles
Nitin Gadkari, India Minister for Road Transport & Highways and the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Government of India, has called for adopting an integrated approach for developing indigenous fuel cells.
While presiding a meeting of govt agencies and officials from research institutions on 10th February, he said that India is at the cusp of becoming a world leader in this field. He urged for developing hydrogen-based energy, given that India has all the required resources. He pointed out the falling costs of solar power in India can support alternative fuels technologies. Last week, India announced launching a National Hydrogen Mission to produce green hydrogen.
He also pointed out that about 81% of Lithium-ion battery parts are made locally, and the country can add further value with lower costs at scale. He said that economic viability is the basis of any successful technology.
The Minister said that under the new vehicle scrapping policy, one crore (10 million) vehicles would initially go for scrapping, which will result in availability of cheaper aluminium, copper, rubber, steel, and other products. These will potentially reduce the cost of battery parts.
The meeting was attended by representatives from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoS-RTH), Niti Aayog, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
