Toyota Motors’ trucking subsidiary Hino Motors has partnered with India’s Ashok Leyland in an effort to comply with the India Bharat Stage VI (BS6) regulations for reducing emissions from vehicles, The Japan Times reported. The regulations are comparable to the Euro VI standards implemented in the European Union.
The expertise that Hino has earned under the Toyota umbrella will be leveraged by Ashok Leyland to develop an engine technology that helps the Indian market meets its own emission reduction targets.
India Bharat Stage VI is a list of emission standards issued on Feb. 19, 2017, by the Indian Ministry of Road Transport and Highways that will apply to all vehicles – including two-wheeled and three-wheeled vehicles. Vehicles are expected to be compliant by April 1, 2020. While European standards served as a backdrop for the regulatory pathways, minor adjustments were made to fit these standards to vehicles with fewer wheels operating on Indian roads and highways.
The decision to skip a stage from BS4 to BS6 emission standards served as a way for the country to accelerate emission reduction procedures. India is one of the reported top greenhouse gas emitting countries, ranking in fourth. It was a step supported by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas with a guarantee that there will be enough BS4 fuel that will work with BS6 emission standards engines.
Vehicles are split into light duty vehicles (LDV) and heavy duty vehicles (HDV) and further differentiated based on weight where vehicles weighing 3,500 kg and below are categorized as LDV and vehicles weighing above 3,500 kg are categorized under HDV.
Since most of LDV fleets deployed on Indian roads and highways have been subjected to “widespread dieselization,” the focal point in allowable pollutant emission rates ended up centered on vehicles with CI engines. “NOx [nitrogen oxide] limits are reduced by 68% relative to BS IV levels, though remain between 33% and 52% higher than BS VI emission limits for corresponding light-duty gasoline vehicle classes.” Leniency was applied on LDVs with SI engines as emission limits involving NOx “are reduced by 25%.”
The BS6 regulations are more stringent though when it comes to HDVs. The particulate matter (PM) standard mandated for these vehicles is reduced by 50% and 67% based on BS4 levels “measured on steady-state and transient dynamometer test cycles, respectively.” The PM standard is made stricter with the measurements provided as “8×1011/kWh for steady-state cycle testing and 6×1011/kWh for transient cycle testing.”
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