While many international auto majors, including Honda, Daimler-Chrysler, BMW, Ford, General Motors, have revealed such models, affordable styles are still about five to 10 years away — for a single hydrogen car today, the price tag is $1 million. In India, all models are only at the demonstration stage with no on-road prototype ready yet. Honda FCX is the world’s only fuel-cell vehicle certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

At a conclave organised by the CII today, R. Chidambaram, principal scientific advisor to the Prime Minister; Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission and Ratan Tata, representing the industry, endorsed the National Hydrogen Energy roadmap and decided to prioritise action plans needed to put these vehicles on the road.

The key areas identified for research:

• Production: While the goal is to produce hydrogen from water, the view now is not to wait for that ultimate breakthrough but start producing hydrogen from industrial effluents (chlor-alkali byproducts) and even domestic waste. S. Banerjee, director, Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, is upbeat on the solar and the nuclear options for splitting water to get hydrogen and work has already started on this.

• Storage: It can be stored in solid, liquid and gaseous form. The Benaras Hindu University did groundbreaking work on hydrides that store hydrogen in solid form, considered the safest method. The BHU team has been asked to come up with 50 two-wheelers in the next few years.

• Application: Once the technology is ready, it could be put to use by the transport sector, industry and even smaller applications like cooking stoves and decentralized electricity. Tata is of the opinion that technology for vehicles has to be (internal combustion) IC-engine-based, requiring minimum modification to the existing system.

• Cost: This is the large, looming hurdle. As per current research, if the infrastructure to re-fuel is available and storage sorted out, it would still cost about Rs 200 for the mileage from the Rs 45-per litre of petrol. How much should the government subsidise?

“The cost of developing hydrogen fuel is high but it can be negated if the government can subsidise. However, we need to decide if subsidies should be given on existing applications to increase scale or on research,” said Ahluwalia. He said hydrogen technology was not economic at present and unless subsidised, the fuel would not to be commercially viable. “If we recognise that it is a potential resource, there is no harm in using subsidies to jump start it but....it is unlikely to become a plausible solution in energy security if it continued to be subsidised perpetually,” Ahluwalia added.

For now, there is plenty lying in labs for the industry to move on. “We now need a business model required for successful commercialisation of hydrogen fuel technology,” said S K Chopra, principal advisor and special secretary to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Some of the institutions involved in the research are BHEL, SPIC Science Foundation, Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata, IIT Delhi and Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Karaikudi. Among projects already up and running are a hydrogen-fuelling station in collaboration with IOC and a demonstration project on hydrogen CNG buses.