The Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, will launch a pilot project for hydrogen-based advanced fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) on Wednesday. The move is in line with India’s commitment to a cleaner energy and low-carbon pathway for achieving accelerated economic growth.
“Aligning with the Prime Minister’s vision of achieving energy independence, and as a part of Toyota’s commitment towards promoting sustainability by adopting multiple pathways to enable energy shift from fossil fuel and towards the conservation of our environment, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and the International Center for Automotive Technology are conducting a pilot project to study and evaluate the world’s most-advanced FCEV Toyota Mirai, which runs on hydrogen, on Indian roads and climatic conditions,” the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.
It is a first-of-its-kind project in India, aimed at spreading awareness about hydrogen FCEV technology. Gadkari would inaugurate this pilot project and also demonstrate Toyota Mirai FCEV, it added.
Fuel of the future
Hydrogen is a key element of the energy strategy and would play a key role in the low-carbon energy pathway. Green hydrogen offers huge opportunities to decarbonise road transportation and is gaining unprecedented momentum globally. Transportation powered by green hydrogen will be a key technology option of the future with significant application, especially across bigger cars, buses, trucks, ships and trains. It will be best suited for medium-to-long distances.
To promote adoption of hybrid and electric vehicles in the country, the government launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) scheme since 2015 on a pan-India basis. Currently, Phase-II of FAME India scheme is being implemented for five years from April 1, 2019, with a total budgetary support of ₹10,000 crore.