this article is authored by manoz kumar tm global delivery head transportation design engineering tata elxsian introduction to fuel cells a fuel cell is an electrochemical device that continuously generates electricity without the need for any intermediate energy conversion hydrogen fuel cells work like batteries but they do not need any recharging as they produce electricity if there is a supply of h2 and o2 as fuelsread alsoindias first hydrogen fuel cell ev toyota mirai launched gadkari launches pilot projectthe toyota mirai has been introduced in india as a part of a pilot project that is being conducted by international center for automotive technology icat along with toyota kirloskar motor pvt ltd to study and evaluate the toyota mirai on indian roads and climatic conditionsa fuel cell is made up of a negative electrode anode and a positive electrode cathode sandwiched around an electrolyte hydrogen is fed to the anode and the air is fed to the cathode in a hydrogen fuel cell a catalyst at the anode separates hydrogen molecules into protons and electrons the electrons go through an external circuit creating a flow of electricity the protons migrate through the electrolyte to the cathode where they unite with oxygen and electrons to produce water and heatfuel cell technology is not a new technology as it is already used in space applications and the energy sector for a long time however adopting this technology in the automotive sector has been sluggish owing to the necessities of oems to go carbon neutral advances in this technology are being made as many companies have launched productionready vehicles in markets like canada japan usmarket expectations and associated challengesthe expectation from the market is to have safe green sustainable and reliable automobiles with minimal or no wait time for refuellingrecharging like ice vehicles however the current technology is not adequate to cater to these needs the challenges include a lack of adequate infrastructure refuelling stations hydrogen produced from fossil fuels which nullifies the effort to move to greener mobility and would require huge investments to produce green hydrogen through renewable resources also the quantity of hydrogen currently produced is less as it is currently being produced only for industrial purposes and would require additional funds to increase the production to cater to demands from the automobile sectoroems and industries interest in fuel cell mobilitythe automotive industry is experiencing multiple disruptions to shift to greener mobility in this regard fuel cell evs have become one of the focus areas where oems tier1s and other companies have made investments in rd to address the challenges and limitations of fuel cells and to use the technology commerciallyto reduce costs oems have focussed their resources on the search for cheaper materials for fuel cell fc stack the focus is also on establishing infrastructure for hydrogen production storage and transportation besides that oems are working on the fc components manufacturing thermal management and ancillary systems design to suit to fuel cell stackmany companies in