India’s first Green Hydrogen based Car launched by Gadkari
The Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle is expected to drive up to 650 kilometers on a single charge, with a refueling time of mere 5 minutes.
The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has finally launched the much talked about Green Hydrogen based Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) Toyota Mirai, and said that this is the first step towards creating an ecosystem for such vehicles in India.
The minister mentioned that this Green Hydrogen-powered FCEV is inarguably the best zero-emission solution at our disposal presently. He further added that it is completely environment friendly with absolutely no tailpipe emissions other than water. The car is expected to give a range of up to 650 kilometers on a single charge, with a refueling time of just 5 minutes.
The move is an important one if the country wants to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and move towards renewable sources of energy as green hydrogen can be produced from abundantly available biomass.
Gadkari has been a strong advocate of Green Hydrogen production and usage as he calls it ‘future of alternate fuel’ since it can be made from bio-mass, bio-organic waste, and even dirty water to an extent. Earlier in December, he had said that the farmers should not only produce ethanol and bio-LNG but also green hydrogen and tap the huge opportunity.
The production of Green Hydrogen and the movement of such FCEVs on Indian roads will also help in achieving the goals of the COP 26 climate agreement of carbon emission reduction to less than 45% by 2030 and net-zero emission by 2070. It will also strengthen India’s goal of achieving ‘Energy Aatmanirbharta’ by 2047.
As of now Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd and International Center for Automotive Technology (ICAT) are conducting a Pilot Project to gauge the capabilities of Toyota Mirai on Indian roads and climatic conditions.
As an initiative to promote the use of this technology commercially, Gadkari will be using this car in his quest of trying to create value from waste and make people believe that a vehicle can sustain on hydrogen produced from wastewater. Meanwhile, the necessary hydrogen required to run the car will be procured from Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).
With Mirai which means ‘future’ in Japanese, the path ahead is to adopt the technology and obtain a clean and affordable energy future for India.
