Tata Motors is always in the news for technological innovations. Not resting on its laurels with the world's cheapest car 'Nano', India's leading vehiclemaker is pulling out all stops to create benchmarks one after another. Though it could not be officially confirmed, Economic Times claims that Tata Motors European Technical Centre plc (TMETC), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Motors, has developed a range of hydrogen fuel cell-powered commercial vehicles and is currently undertaking trial runs of these buses and light trucks.

"We are looking to run a fleet of fuel cell vehicles to gain experience of how they actually work in operation. That will be a stage prior to considering production," as told by John Richmond, group chief engineer, Tata Motors Europe to Economic Times.

However, the company's spokesperson declined to offer any comments. He said, "It's too premature to comment on such speculative stories."

It is to be mentioned that Fuel cell vehicle or FC vehicle (FCV) is a type of hydrogen vehicle which uses a fuel cell to produce its on-board motive power. Fuel cells create electricity to power an electric motor using hydrogen or a reformed hydrocarbon fuel and oxygen from the air.

All fuel cells are made up of three parts: an electrolyte, an anode and a cathode. Fuel cells function similarly to a conventional battery, but instead of recharging, they are refilled with hydrogen. Different types of fuel cells include Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells, Direct Methanol Fuel Cells, Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells, Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells, Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, and Regenerative Fuel Cells. A vehicle fueled with pure hydrogen emits few pollutants, only water and heat. Highway vehicles currently produce about 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. However, the support for the idea of a fuel cell vehicle as a viable option for the replacement of the internal combustion engine has largely been replaced by other alternatives. This is due to the complexity of using hydrogen gas; when created, fossil fuels are often used with water to create steam, but the byproduct is carbon dioxide