Overview
- The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways announced on Thursday, July 9, 2026 that it has begun pilot hydrogen mobility projects on 10 intercity corridors to test hydrogen as a transport fuel.
- The trials cover specific routes such as Greater Noida–Delhi–Agra, Pune–Mumbai via the Mumbai‑Pune Expressway, Bhubaneswar–Konark–Puri, Ahmedabad–Vadodara–Surat and NH‑16 Visakhapatnam–Voyyuru to evaluate corridor operations.
- Planned hydrogen refuelling stations are mapped for strategic nodes including Greater Noida, Bhubaneswar, Vadodara, Faridabad, Rajkot, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Voyyuru to support the pilots.
- Minister Nitin Gadkari framed the pilots as a bid to cut about Rs 22 lakh crore in annual fuel imports and to curb transport-sector pollution, stressing industry cooperation on buses and vehicle technology.
- Officials stressed these are early tests that will judge safety, cost and network feasibility before any large rollout, while the minister also rejected claims that ethanol-blended fuels are causing widespread vehicle damage.