Manesar/New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India Limited has commissioned its first green hydrogen plant at its manufacturing facility in Manesar, Haryana, marking another step in the automaker’s effort to reduce carbon emissions from its production operations.
The 300 kW green hydrogen electrolyzer plant has been established as a pilot project. Hydrogen produced at the facility will be blended with natural gas and used as process fuel in Maruti Suzuki’s manufacturing operations.
The project is designed to make better use of solar power generated at the Manesar facility, particularly during holidays when electricity demand at the plant is lower and some solar generation might otherwise remain unused.
Instead of allowing that surplus energy to sit idle, Maruti Suzuki will use it to produce green hydrogen, which can be stored and subsequently consumed during manufacturing operations.
The company said it will use the findings from the Manesar pilot to evaluate a wider rollout of green hydrogen technology across its manufacturing facilities in Haryana and Gujarat.
Speaking on the initiative, Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said, “Just like we have adopted a multi-pathway approach for products, we have also embarked on a journey of multiple renewable energy solutions for manufacturing operations. The commissioning of our 300 kW Green Hydrogen plant is aligned with the Government of India’s Green Hydrogen Mission. This, along with expansion of solar, biogas and installation of battery energy storage system reflects our commitment to transition to cleaner and sustainable energy solutions.”
The green hydrogen project forms part of a broader effort by the country’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer to diversify the sources of renewable and lower-carbon energy used across its factories.
Maruti Suzuki has been expanding in-house solar power generation while also procuring renewable electricity from government sources and entering into power purchase agreements with third-party providers for solar and wind energy.
Takeuchi said carbon intensity could increasingly become an important factor in determining the competitiveness of Indian manufacturing alongside traditional measures such as cost and quality.
He added, “India is emerging as a manufacturing powerhouse, and its competitive position may not depend solely on cost and quality, but also on CO2 intensity. With such initiatives, we are building capability today so that we can support a low-carbon and more energy-efficient manufacturing ecosystem tomorrow. Through multiple clean technologies, we aspire to reduce our carbon footprint in manufacturing operations from the present 615,000 tonnes to 266,000 tonnes in FY 2030-31.”
That target would represent a reduction of about 57% from the company’s stated current manufacturing carbon footprint, highlighting the scale of the transition Maruti Suzuki is pursuing over the coming years.
Biogas and battery storage also in focus
Green hydrogen is only one part of the company’s cleaner-energy strategy.
Maruti Suzuki is in the advanced stages of setting up a 10 Tonnes Per Day (TPD) biogas plant at its Kharkhoda facility. The plant is expected to be commissioned during FY 2026-27.
The company has also recently commissioned a 1 MWh Battery Energy Storage System at Kharkhoda, which can help manage electricity supply and demand while supporting the greater use of renewable power.
Maruti Suzuki has also begun incorporating compressed biogas, or CBG, as a process fuel in its manufacturing operations.
Its board recently approved four CBG projects and earmarked a budget of ₹5,610 million for the initiatives.
Separately, parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation is working with organisations including the National Dairy Development Board and dairy industry unions to establish 10 biogas plants across India. Three of those facilities are already operational in Gujarat.
Maruti Suzuki said its approach draws on Suzuki Motor Corporation’s philosophy of Sho-Sho-Kei-Tan-Bi, which translates to “smaller, fewer, lighter, shorter and more beautiful” and is applied to improving resource efficiency and optimising energy requirements.
For automobile manufacturers, reducing emissions is increasingly about more than what comes out of a vehicle’s exhaust — or, in the case of electric vehicles, what does not. The carbon footprint of factories and the energy used to build vehicles are becoming a larger part of the sustainability equation.
Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar pilot will therefore serve as a test of whether green hydrogen can become a practical component of its industrial energy mix. If the technology proves technically and economically viable at scale, its planned expansion across Haryana and Gujarat could add another significant tool to the company’s effort to lower the carbon intensity of vehicle manufacturing in India.
