Sustainability in transport sector for India and the potential role hydrogen is slated to play

Background & introduction to research

From the beginning of 2000’s the automotive industry across the globe has been under tremendous pressure from both the governments and society to pursue more sustainable model for growth. It’s been slower but prevalent in India as well as the country has been gradually absorbing the penetration of EVs. The response from the automotive sector in the country in this regards has been phenomenal with all major OEMs planning to launch EVs or have already launched one. However, the transition signals some severe environmental issues as well:

• Transportation accounted for nearly 25% of global carbon emissions with road transportation accounting for close to 20%.

• China being the central supplier of EV value chain globally mines most of the graphite used in EVs which is completely non-regulated and is leading large scale environmental damages.

• The EVs production consume many critical minerals which are not readily available in India and is completely import dependent.