India to have hydrogen-powered vehicles soon

The technology would be available within two to three years, noted non-conventional energy scientist IP Jain said.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles will soon replace those running on petrol and diesel, according to an energy expert.

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Citing the Ratan Tata Hydrogen Energy Group's project to harness fuel from hydrogen, noted non-conventional energy scientist IP Jain said on Sunday that the transformation from liquid fuel-based vehicles to those using hydrogen would be swift.

The technology would be available within two to three years, Jain told reporters ahead of an international workshop beginning on Monday that would explore the possibility of hydrogen production, storage and application.

Currently, hydrogen costs four times the price of oil or gas but its energy efficiency is three times the conventional means, said Jain, whose research group has been working on hydrogen hydride for the last 20 years.

"In the next decade hydrogen energy application would take a speedy turn as happened in the information technology boom in which every common man got a mobile handset at an affordable price," Jain said, adding hydrogen would be a substitute for oil or gas and vehicles could be retrofitted to use it.