H2X and ADVIK have collaborated to meet the requirements of Indian duty cycles. Deepti Thore looks at the key strengths of this joint venture.
The demand for hydrogen-powered equipment and vehicles is growing rapidly in India. In 2021, the Government of India(GoI) launched the National Hydrogen mission to mitigate environment made issues and make India a green hydrogen hub. It is supported with a budget of Rs.800 crores for FY22. A step in this direction, the Green Hydrogen / Green Ammonia policy aims at reducing the dependence on fossil fuels and significantly curb crude oil imports. Driven by this mission, ADVIK Hi-Tech Pvt. Ltd. and H2X Global Ltd. in an important, strategic collaboration will supply hydrogen-powered products and vehicles in India. The partners will also build a global supply chain of products and components to meet this requirement. Speaking about the growing stature of hydrogen as a primary fuel in India, Aditya Bhartia, Managing Director for ADVIK Hi-Tech Pvt. Ltd. said, “India is destined to be a leader in the Hydrogen drivetrains with strong support from Government and industry. As a company which has always been ahead of the curve, we are aggressively pushing into the Hydrogen space as a core growth area for our company.”
Optimistic about the future of Hydrogen as a primary fuel in India and the success of the partnership, Brendan Norman, Chief Executive Officer of H2X said, “We have long believed India is one of the great manufacturing powers of the world and we have found a great player in the automotive Industry in ADVIK. The cooperation between our companies gives us great strength in being able to address India but also to provide us with a strong manufacturing backbone to support our production ecosystem in Australia and other parts of the world as well.” Pure Hydrogen, a major stakeholder in H2X, is also looking at entering into a deal with ADVIK to explore hydrogen-based opportunities within the Indian market, confirmed Scott Brown, Managing Director at Pure Hydrogen. The other arm of Pure Hydrogen, PureX with H2X will work on creating fuel cell businesses such as the Warrego, trucks, and buses including special application vehicles like garbage disposal trucks and concrete agitator trucks. According to Pure Hydrogen, the global demand is projected to rise to 100 million tonne by 2030 and exceed 500 million tonne by 2050. With transportation identified as one of the largest sources of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions globally and among the early adopters of hydrogen-based energy, the Hydrogen consumption is on the rise! Asia-Pacific alone is expected to witness the fastest growth moving forward as the largest hydrogen market.
Tapping growth potential
While representing a major entry into the massive Indian market, the Australian-Indian joint venture will majorly focus on manufacturing fuel-cells, generators and vehicles. Designed and developed by the H2X Global design team, the vehicles and components derived from the partnership are scheduled for production in the near future. To support development and production of solutions for Hydrogen Power and Hydrogen Mobility in India, H2X and ADVIK, in the first phase of production, will produce H2X’s series of fuel cell powered generators known to currently being deployed in Australia. The H2X pick-up Warrego, for example, harnesses hydrogen power, and is one of the first pick-ups launched by H2X in Australia. Confident of H2X’s product range, Bhartia said, “We have great confidence in the product range from H2X as being one with several key opportunities to support to the deployment of Hydrogen in the Indian Market and together with our local knowledge and expertise we see great opportunity to develop this for the acceleration of the Indian clean energy movement.”
Power H2 Units
The first generators manufactured by the partners will be put into service with a large-scale power system providing emission-free power for ADVIK’s state of the art Research and Development Centre located in Pune, India. Pure Hydrogen and H2X together have launched a range of hydrogen fuel cell power generation units that can be used for back-up power or continuous electricity supply. Available in 5kW, 20kW, 50kW and 100kW capacities as standard, the Power H2 units can generate electricity, claimed to be zero-emissions using a small hydrogen storage tank. The target is to sell 10000 units in five years at an estimated valuation of AUD 28,000 per unit. According to Brown, anyone who has solar, wind or another renewable energy grid will need a backup like Power H2. “The Power H2 units are a way of making a clean energy investment really work,” he advocated.
The road map
Working together over the past year to explore opportunities for hydrogen in the Indian market, the two companies are looking at positioning themselves as key players in ‘Green Hydrogen Revolution’ envisioned for India. As a leading supplier in the automotive space, ADVIK will supply products. It will also launch distribution activity for products from H2X under the JV, capitalising on the local knowledge and its networks. Speaking on the future of hydrogen in the country, Brendan opined that the Indian Market is critical to the long-term success of the Hydrogen Industry and that the partnership with ADVIK will be critical to the growth of the company.
The first products from the JV will be delivered to the market within the coming few months, with the power system in Pune being the highlight of the launch. By doing so, both the companies aim at claiming a leadership position. “The opportunity for us to be able to launch a product to the Indian market at this early stage is reflective of the passion we have at ADVIK to lead our country and the world in terms of being active in new technological advancement,” concluded Bhartia.
Also read, Hydrogen Fuel Cell CVs
