BS-VI norms

•  According to a statement issued by ICRA Ratings, “Indian government’s decision to jump the Bharat Stage (BS)-V Emission Standards and implement the BS-VI norms by April 2020, four years ahead of the earlier schedule, will make diesel vehicles costlier by Rs.70,000 to Rs.1,50,000.”
• The diesel segment is likely to witness a sizeable price increase due to introduction of additional components. However, the cost of petrol passenger vehicles may increase by 20,000-30,000 per vehicle.
• Also, as diesel vehicles would require significant technology changes, the cost differential between petrol and diesel passenger vehicles would expand further.
• In January 2016 , Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to jump from BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms directly. The Indian government will skip BS-V emission norms altogether and the new norms will be in place by April 1, 2020.
• The Auto Fuel Policy 2003 had recommended implementation of BS-VI norms by 2024. Earlier in the draft notification issued by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had advanced dates for implementation of BS-V norms to 2019 and BS-VI norms to 2021.
• Presently BS-IV auto fuels are being supplied in whole of northern India covering states like Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, parts of Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh. While rest of the country is being supplied has BS-III grade fuel. The deadline implementation for BS-IV auto fuels is 2017 across the country

What are BS norms?

• Bharat Stage emission standards, introduced in 2000, are emission standards that have been set up by the Central government to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.
• The different norms are brought into force in accordance with the timeline and standards set up by the Central Pollution Control Board which comes under the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change.
• The move from BS-IV or Euro 4 to BS VI will require significant investment in technologies like Diesel Particle Filter (DPF) and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). DPF, which comes under BS-V norms will now incorporated in BS-VI vehicles. In stage VI, selective catalytic reduction technology has to be optimized .

DPF(Diesel Particulate Filter)

• The diesel particulate filter (DPF) for removing particulate matter is a cylindrical object that has to be mounted inside the engine compartment.
• In India, where small cars are preferred, fitting DPF into the limited bonnet space would involve major redesign. The bonnet length may have to be increased, which would make vehicles breach the prevalent excise bracket for sub-4 metre cars.
• The DPF would further have to be optimised for Indian operating conditions
• In Indian conditions, low driving speed means it is difficult to achieve temperatures of 600°C required to burn the soot in DPF. Usually diesel is injected to increase temperatures but excess fuel can cause a fire.
• The injection rate has to be optimised, vehicles re- engineered keeping in mind safety.

SCR(Selective Catalytic Reduction)

• The selective catalytic reduction (SCR) module is used to reduce oxides of nitrogen. When the exhaust is moving, an aqueous urea solution (AUS 32) is injected into the system.
• AUS 32 contains ammonia, which reacts with and reduces the nitrogen. This means a container needs to be put on board the car for deploying the AUS 32.
• Separately, infrastructure also needs to be set up across the country for supply of AUS 32. The optimisation and fitment of this technology would again take three to four years.
   

By: Vishal