Green Hydrogen Pilot Project for Automobiles- RIL, Tata Motors, IOCL to be key bidders

The pilot project will help identify operational issues and gaps in terms of technology readiness, regulations, implementation, infrastructure and supply chains.

The H2 corridor project seeks to support the deployment of hydrogen-powered buses, trucks and cars in a phased manner. The successful bidder will be given funds to close the viability gap due to the higher cost of the hydrogen-powered vehicles in the initial years.

Bidders must participate as a consortium or partners to ensure the entire value chain from making hydrogen and dispensing it to running vehicles, as per the report. The consortium should include a vehicle manufacturer, hydrogen fuel supplier distributor, as well as other partners.

Reliance is partnering with Ashok Leyland, and Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, while Tata Motors is partnering with IOCL as a consortium. Ashok Leyland is also reportedly partnering with NTPC.

The H2 corridor project seeks to support the deployment of hydrogen-powered buses, trucks and cars in a phased manner. The successful bidder will be given funds to close the viability gap due to the higher cost of the hydrogen-powered vehicles in the initial years.

The new policy allows import of just 40,000 EVs per manufacturer over a 5-year period i.e. at a rate of not more than 8,000 EVs per year. And that too on the condition of setting up a manufacturing base in India. Secondly this is for import of only high-end vehicles (USD 35,000 i.e. around Rs.30 lacs and above). Competition is bound to increase in the long run anyway (from the present), and this policy is just a small carrot to those who are anyway planning to enter the Indian market. I don’t think it is much of an issue for existing players.

Press Information Bureau (pib.gov.in)

These are “unsecured” loans. Unsecured loans at 9% is fairly competitive rate…
Further, with the asset light model they have, they have sudden requirements of funds for a short period of time (depending on orders inflow/raw material availability), and that’s where these funds come in handy …
Anyway promoter putting his own funds on unsecured terms at a fairly competitive rates is a positive.

Sparc Electrex has launched its first Product using Hyundai brand name- “HYUNDAI HEAT GUN HHG 2000”.