Government Proposes Green, Blue Colored Registration Plates for Hydrogen Vehicles

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a draft notification that proposes a different visual identity for hydrogen fuel-operated vehicles with a combination of green, blue, yellow, and white colours in the registration number plate.

According to a draft notification, private hydrogen-powered vehicles will have a number plate with the upper half in green and the bottom half in blue colour. The same color scheme applies to commercial vehicles as well. However, for the private vehicles, the figures will be in while, while the figures for commercial vehicles will be in yellow. 

In case of cabs on rent, the top half of the number plate will be black and the bottom half will be blue, while the figures on the plate will be in yellow, the notification said.

India is pursuing a multi-fuel strategy to decarbonize the transport sector. The industry and government believe hydrogen fuel offers a clean and efficient alternative for decarbonizing long-distance truck and bus applications in the long term, thanks to its higher energy density and lighter storage requirements compared to batteries.

Hydrogen ICEs are currently expected to see easier and faster adoption compared to hydrogen fuel cells, due to factors such as lower transition barriers and easier integration into existing manufacturing and service ecosystems.

Several Indian automakers such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, and Olectra Greentech are already developing or testing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Pilot projects supported by oil marketing companies like Reliance Industries, BPCL, and HPCL are expected to facilitate early deployment by providing refueling infrastructure at key freight corridors.

Recently, Abhay Bakre, Mission Director for the Government's Green Hydrogen Mission, said that he expects India to have over 1,000 hydrogen-powered trucks and buses on its roads by the end of this decade, with almost 50 hydrogen-powered trucks and buses likely to be only the roads this year.

India has been using different coloured number plates for electric vehicles as well. Electric vehicles have green number plates with figures in white colour for private vehicles, and yellow-coloured figures for commercial vehicles. Internal combustion engine vehicles have white number plates for private vehicles and yellow number plates for commercial vehicles.

Self-rental vehicles like rental cars and bikes use black number plates with yellow lettering. Although registered for commercial use, a commercial driving license is not required to drive them.

Blue coloured number plates are already in use in India. Vehicles belonging to foreign consulates and embassies use blue number plates with white letters and numbers. Red plates with India's emblem are used for official vehicles of high-ranking government officials.

A red colour number plate is also issued to brand-new vehicles with a temporary registration number in white colour. It is valid only for 30 days.