Indian automobile makers plan to introduce 1,000 hydrogen-powered cars by 2010 and will spend at least $160 million to develop the new technology, government and industry officials said on Wednesday.
India, which imports 70 percent of its crude requirement, plans to introduce a blend of Hydrogen and compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles in New Delhi next year.
The government is encouraging the use of renewable energy as India's crude oil import bill is soaring in step with global prices and domestic output has declined in recent years.
Initially, hydrogen will be blended to the extent of 10 percent in vehicles already running on CNG and by 2007, the ratio would be raised to 30 percent, Dilip Chenoy, director general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, told Reuters.
"By 2010, we hope to have 1,000 vehicles running purely on hydrogen," he said after a meeting of the National Hydrogen Energy Board, a panel of top government officials and heads of leading automobile manufacturers. He said manufacturers would spend at least 5.0 billion rupees ($110 million) for this over the next five years.
Besides, the government would provide 2.5 billion rupees ($54 million) to fund hydrogen projects said S.K. Chopra, an official in the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources.