India’s Transport Minister is pushing for alternative fuel sources to reduce India’s dependence on fuel import
A few weeks ago, Toyota got the Mirai hydrogen cars to India for a pilot project. Nitin Gadkari, India’s Minister Of Road, Transport and Highways was present with other prominent cabinet ministers to take a close look at the Mirai and announce India’s ambitious hydrogen fuel-based future.
Gadkari even reached the Parliament using the Toyota Mirai. While it created a lot of noise around the hydrogen car, it makes us question how long will it be before India becomes reliant on hydrogen as fuel.
What is the Toyota Mirai pilot project?
Under the pilot project, Toyota will run a few cars in Delhi. Nitin Gadkari will use one himself. After a certain time period, the pilot project will bring up the challenges and problems to see if the Mirai is suitable to run on Indian roads.
The Indian cabinet minister Nitin Gadkari has started using the Mirai Hydrogen himself
The government or Toyota have not given out the details on the pilot project. Both have remained tight-lipped about the goals these pilot projects are looking to achieve. So we will have to wait and see for how long the pilot project runs and the conclusion drawn at the end.
India has no hydrogen-refilling infrastructure
It has been about three decades since the first CNG pump started operating in Delhi. In 1993, three CNG pumps started dispensing CNG for vehicles. Since then, CNG has become very popular as fuel in different parts of the country.
As of May 2021, there are a total number of 3,180 CNG stations across India. The CNG fuel has become popular but only in Tier-I and Tier-II cities. Even after three decades, the alternative fuel type could not reach the far-off and remote areas of the country.
Well, we have studied that using examples of CNG
Compared to CNG pumps, there are over 61,000 fuel pumps across India. The fuel pumps can be found at the most remote locations in India including the highest altitudes. Whereas CNG is yet to reach such areas.
You can only imagine how long it will take for hydrogen to become as popular as CNG in India whenever it arrives. Currently, there is not even a single hydrogen dispensing pump in India. It will take decades before hydrogen fuel is available at multiple locations in the country.
But can hydrogen become popular?
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Let’s take the case study of CNG cars again. Compared to the petrol variants, the CNG variants are about a lakh more expensive. Yes, they are popular, especially among the fleet car owners who need to run the vehicles much more than private car buyers. Another advantage of owning a CNG vehicle is the running cost. It is substantially cheaper than petrol to run a CNG vehicle.
Despite these issues, the sales of CNG cars remain a fraction of the petrol vehicles. Hydrogen cars will not be cheap.
Currently, only Hyundai and Toyota offer fuel-cell cars around the world. All other manufacturers including Honda have stopped manufacturing hydrogen cars due to the low demand around the world. The Hyundai Nexo gets a price tag of around Rs 45 lakh while the Toyota Mirai gets a price tag of Rs 50 lakh in the USA. Now with such a high price tag, the target buyers will not be able to buy them. We already know how price-sensitive the Indian market really is.
Hydrogen is not cheap
There is not a single hydrogen filling station in India
Even hydrogen as a fuel is not cheap. In the U.S. one kg of hydrogen sells for $16, which roughly translates to Rs 1,200. The Mirai takes 5 kg of hydrogen fuel, which will cost around Rs 6,000. Toyota claims that the Mirai can go up to 647 km on a full tank. That is not very economical to run. Even though the price of crude oil has skyrocketed, it is cheaper to run a vehicle on petrol compared to hydrogen.
Interestingly, Indian Oil, L&T and ReNew have formed a joint venture to boost green hydrogen production in India. The project will aim to scale up hydrogen manufacturing in India. While mass production will bring down the cost, the price per litre will still remain much higher than petrol.
India currently imports 84% of its crude oil. It comes at a very high cost. In 2020-21, India’s total fuel import was worth US$77 billion! Do you think hydrogen cars can reduce that bill in the future? Do let us know in the comments below.
Keyword: No, Hydrogen Cars Will Not Solve India’s Problems; Here’s Why