India expects 400-500 hydrogen-powered buses to be deployed on its roads by the end of 2030, as the government steps up efforts to decarbonise the heavy mobility sector, according to Abhay Bakre, Mission Director, National Green Hydrogen Mission, under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
About 45-50 commercial heavy vehicles are expected to begin trials by the end of this year, Bakre said while speaking at the S&P Global Horizons Clean Energy Expansion India 2026 summit at New Delhi on Thursday.Bakre said 70 buses and heavy-duty trucks, with payload capacities ranging from 20 tonnes to 55 tonnes, have been sanctioned for extensive trials over the next two years.
Infrastructure to support commercial hydrogen mobility is also being developed, with over six hydrogen fuelling stations operational and trials being planned across more than 20 highways, he said.ccording to Bakre, achieving scale in the heavy mobility segment is critical to bridging the price gap between traditional and clean fuels. “The operating cost of a diesel bus versus a hydrogen bus will be very almost at par in the next 2 to 3 years,” Bakre said.
The push for hydrogen mobility is part of a broader mandate to slash the country’s massive import bill for fossil fuels.As more and more we grow, we need more and more energy, that means more molecules to be imported,” Bakre said, adding that domestic green hydrogen production can help reduce this dependence by converting locally generated renewable electricity into clean hydrogen.
