Car Emission Control

How many of you know about BSES (Bharat stage emission standards)? This is emission standards established by the Government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants. This was introduced in the year 2000, based on the European regulations. After the year 2000 all vehicles that were manufactured must be compliant with the norms. In October 2010 BS-3 was enforced across the country, and 6 months before on April in 13 major cities BS-4 emission norms were implemented. BS-4 was enforced for the entire country by April 2017. A year before BS-4 was completely implemented the Indian Government announced that they would skip BS-5 and directly go to BS-6 which will be implemented from 1 April 2020. The main reason why the Indian Government skipped BS-5 is because the emission norms of BS-6 will be at par with US and European countries. In Delhi due to a lot of pollution issues BS-6 was put into practice in 2018.

BS-6 vehicles will be more effective for the diesel engines, which releases a huge amount of sulphur. Presently the BS-4 engines release around 50PPM (Parts per million) of sulphur and shifting to BS-6 will drastically reduce its quantity to 10PPM. Hence BS-6 engines are cleaner and cause less environmental pollution (one of the biggest problem of the future generation). It will also reduce the other harmful content (NOx, PM, CO, HCs etc.) CO and hydrocarbons are more prevalent in petrol engines whereas NOx and PM are in diesel engines. The sulphur levels as known would be much lower in BS6 Fuel, thus acids formed in the engine would be much lower. As the car tends to get old, the engine NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) Levels increases, having lesser acids will ensure that car engine NVH Levels do not deteriorate in BS-6 as much as seen in BS-4.

The main problem with BS-6 will be the price of the car, there can be an increase of 20,000 rupees for petrol cars and almost 1 lakh for diesel cars. The maintenance cost will be more because of the new features and normal mechanics won’t be able to repair effectively.

Until now there are no deadlines to stop the already existing BS-4 cars, hence people with BS-4 cars can continue with their car. BS-6 car users should be careful not to use BS-4 fuels as it might affect the engine, but for BS-4 vehicles adding BS-6 fuels will give more benefits but still it is not advisable to use it. Here are few examples of already existing BS-6 vehicles:

Sedan:

• Maruti Suzuki Dzire

• Hyundai Elantra

• Mercedes Benz E-Class

• Audi A6

Hatchback:

• Maruti Suzuki Alto 800

• Maruti Suzuki S-Presso

• Hyundai Grand i10 Nios

• Maruti Suzuki Swift

• Maruti Suzuki Wagon R 1.2-litre

• Maruti Suzuki Baleno

• Toyota Glanza

MPV:

• Maruti Suzuki Ertiga

• Maruti Suzuki XL6

SUV’s:

• Kia Seltos

• Jeep Compass

Crossovers:

• Maruti Suzuki XL6

• Maruti Suzuki S-Presso