On January 6, 2016, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways & Shipping, had announced on Twitter:
“Me and my colleagues Prakash Javadekar (Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change), Anant Geete (Union Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises) and Dharmendra Pradhan (Union Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas) have taken a unanimous decision to leapfrog to BS-VI directly from 01/04/2020” Pradhan too tweeted that “commitment to meet the deadline of 01.04.2020 for introduction of BS-VI fuel in country reaffirmed – great decision.” Pradhan’s tweet, which hails the government’s firm decision of skipping BS-V emission norms and leapfrogging to BS-VI, erases all doubts about the oil marketing companies’ (OMCs) disagreement over being able to deliver the required fuel grade in four years’ time. The government’s decision to implement BS-VI emission norms on new vehicles with effect from April 2020 has drawn concerns from the automotive industry specifically in the areas including rising costs, engine bay design issues, using diesel particulate filters (DPF) vs fuel efficiency trade-off, design time for tailor-made solutions for vehicles sold in India.
OEMs and key suppliers of emission-related technologies have expressed their reservations against the early deadline.
THE WRITING WAS ON THE WALL
It can be recalled that while addressing the automotive industry at the 55th SIAM annual convention in New Delhi last year, Gadkari had urged the fraternity to work upon stricter vehicular emission-related technologies.
“We cannot continue to postpone our decision of delaying the implementation of stricter emission norms (and of pan-India execution of one country – one fuel policy – highlighting the delay in pan-India availability of BS-IV fuel, and the opposition for early deadline by the auto industry). Soon someday the Supreme Court will pass a decision of implementing stricter norms and we will have no choice but to adhere to the same,” Gadkari had said.
WHAT ICCT THINKS
The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a US-based independent, non-profit organisation involved in technical and scientific analysis of vehicular emissions worldwide, supports the implementation of the BS-VI emission norms in India by 2020.
In his exclusive communication with our sister publication Autocar Professional, Anup Bandivadekar, passenger vehicles program director at ICCT, said: “The move to skip BS-V, and go directly to BS-VI makes a lot of sense from a technical point of view. Advancing the date of implementation of BS-VI will generate tremendous health benefits over the long term, and the additional costs of cleaner fuel and vehicles will be offset by resulting health benefits (for the economy as a whole) in a matter of a few years. So, on the whole, this is a very positive development. This advancement will also have cost implications for the vehicles. While the costs will be moderate for petrol cars, diesel cars are likely to get more expensive by about Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000 per vehicle depending on engine size.”
Indian automakers such as Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra are known to already have the access to the BS-VI technology that goes into cars and CVs. For example, M&M’s SsangYong has been selling Euro-6 vehicles in EU and Korea for the last few years. M&M is also known for exporting the XUV5OO and other models fitted with DPFs in Europe.
He also stated: “A similar case can be made for Tata Motors, which has been selling Euro 6 trucks (Prima/Novus) under the Tata Daewoo brand in Korea since last year. They (OEMs) will have to work with emissions control suppliers, most of whom are global players, to customise the solution for the Indian market, but there is plenty of time to do that between now and 2020."
Supporting the government’s move, Brady Ericson, president and general manager of BorgWarner Emissions Systems, which currently supplies exhaust gas recirculation technologies to leading OEMs in India including Maruti Suzuki India, said: “BorgWarner fully supports implementing BS-VI emission standards in India by 2020. The country is facing significant air quality challenges. If fuel can meet the required quality levels across India, automotive technologies are already available to meet the accelerated timeline. BorgWarner’s technologies are specifically engineered to help automakers improve fuel economy, emissions and performance. With our local testing and validation capabilities, BorgWarner is well positioned to help our customers meet new requirements with fast-to-market solutions.”
According to a report by the ICCT, given that the BS-VI emission norms are implemented in India in 2020, the emissions of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) into the air (for all vehicles combined) could be reduced by more than 12 thousand metric tonnes and by close to 200 thousand metric tonnes by 2024 respectively. This underlines the tremendous health benefits by advancing the BS-VI standards timeline.
Now what the automotive industry needs to consider is, if car buyers are ready to pay more for safety features, why will they not pay more to breathe safer air and address the issue of premature mortality?
Amit Panday (Autocar Professional)