What is BS6 Engine Technology?

As per the Supreme Court Order, Indian market will see only the sale of BS VI compliant vehicles from April 1, 2020. These new emission control standards being introduced in India will need widespread measures in terms of emission control, automotive electronics, fuel-grade and ECU changes. While the Bharat Stage Emission norms mainly focus on minimizing the pollutant emissions from the vehicles run on the Indian roads, the standards of the VI stage of these norms coming under the title BS VI will call for a drastic change in the technology adopted by the India vehicle manufacturers.

The implications of BS VI norms

Once these norms come into effect, the emission levels in India will come on par with the emissions standards in the European countries and the US. This also marks a major advancement in the vehicle manufacturing technology in India which will match with the other advanced automotive technologies seen across the globe. Bharat Stage VI norms will demand a host of technology modifications the most important one being the implementation of OBD (on-board diagnostics) a mandatory feature for all the vehicles.

The need for India to move to the BSIV to BS VI norms

India is a vast country with 10 highly populated cities. This is a qualification that we might not feel happy to boast of considering the alarming amount of pollutants the vehicles of the country release on the Indian roads. In the Indian cities, the vehicular emissions are major contributors to the worsening of air quality. Studies show that the release of NOx, SO2, CO2 and other particulate matters take a toll on the health of Indians. For instance, the PM2.5 levels in a city like Delhi is 6 times more than what is allowed by the WHO.

Following the Paris Climate Agreement signed by India in 2016, India has taken the responsibility to cut down its carbon footprint by 35-55% within the next 12 years from what was recorded in 2005. These carbon footprint obligations have forced the country to move directly to BS VI norms bypassing the BS V norms. The BS VI norms will see the NOx emissions come down by 25% approximately in case of petrol engines and 68% in case of diesel engines. The PM emissions for diesel engines will come down by 80%.

Technology changes that BS VI demand

The OEMs cannot just add some additional components in the manufactured vehicles to reduce the emissions. If Euro VI compliant DPF needs to be fitted in a small diesel car made in India, the bonnet size will have to increase by exceeding the 4 meters mark. In case of natively developed OEMs like Mahindra and TATA, the new standards will have to be implemented in their line of vehicles with utmost perfection. Since this technology has to be multiplied over hundreds of platforms, the challenge seems to be higher. In order to control the PM and NOx emissions, the OEMs will need to implement various kinds of technologies like fitting Diesel particulate filter (DPF) in the vehicles to expel particulate matters from the gas exhausted. For reducing the NOx emission, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) need to be used.