Government announced it will jump to Bharat Stage-Six emission standards directly from current BS-Four levels by 2020. But what are these Bharat Stage emission standards? How do they work? What impact will it have on the consumers and auto makers?
In a move to curb vehicular pollution, the government announced it would prepone implementation of Bharat Stage (BS)-VI emission standards by a year, to April 2020. In the process, it decided to skip the BS-V emission standard.
But what is this Bharat Stage emission standards that become so important amidst the global confrontation of climate change and pollution. Every country has got emission standards for their vehicles based on US and Euro regulations.
Similarly, India too has its own emission standards called Bharat stage on the lines of Euro stage. So far India has been following Bharat Stage- BS-IV emission standards.
Emission standards are basically constituted to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles.
The first emission norms were introduced in India in 1991 for petrol and 1992 for diesel vehicles. And in April 1999 the Supreme Court of India ruled that all vehicles in India have to meet Euro I or India 2000 norms.
India had witnessed a continuous upgradation of emission standards and reached BS-IV standards. And in a latest development India announced it would implement BS-VI from April 2020.
In the new emission standard, particulate matter (PM) emission for diesel cars would be 80 per cent less than BS-IV and the nitrogen oxide (NOx) level would be 83 per cent lower.
The sulphur content in fuel norms for diesel and petrol under both V and VI standards would not change at 10 parts per million, though it is substantially less than the 50 mandated for both fuels under BS-IV.
However there is a mixed response from auto experts and automobile makers on government’s decision to skip BS-V and jump to BS-VI.
India currently has BS-III specifications across the country and BS-IV in major cities. BS-IV will be supplied in most big cities by April 2016 and all over the country from April 2017.