Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari recently made a statement that not many auto manufacturers would like. The minister has urged the automobile industry to start preparing for the next-generation emission norms, or BS7, proactively. He has urged manufacturers to do so to keep in line with the upcoming Euro 7 norms that are set to be implemented in European Union countries from 2025.
The minister wants manufacturers to not wait until the government makes an official announcement about the BS7 norms. Gadkari said, “You should start at your own level to carry out research for the manufacturing of BS7 vehicles. Our industry should be at par with our European counterparts. Last time, the government had to set the deadline and push the industry to comply. The industry also delivered. But why should you wait for us to make such a decision?”
In India, all car manufacturers are selling vehicles that are compliant with the current BS6 Phase 2 emission norms. Phase 2 of the BS6 emission norms was implemented recently in the market. Regarding the BS6 emissions, Nitin Gadkari had forced vehicle manufacturers in India to jump directly from BS4 to BS6 back in 2020. This was done so that Indian emission standards would align with the Euro 6 norms. BS norms are essentially a copy of Euro norms.
Euro 7 emission norms will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will be implemented in 2025, and the second phase in 2027. India is expected to switch to BS7 around 2027.
Now that the Euro 7 norms are expected to be implemented, we can expect the government to soon make an announcement for the BS7 norms too. The jump from BS4 to BS6 had affected car manufacturers. The new emission norms forced many manufacturers to dump diesel engines, as making diesel engines BS6 compliant was extremely expensive, making small diesel cars extremely expensive for customers.
The only logical thing manufacturers could do was discontinue the diesel engine and concentrate on petrol engines. The amount every manufacturer had to invest in order to make their diesel engines BS6 compliant was more than for petrol, and that was one of the major reasons for the price hike.
What Does BS7 Mean?
Coming to BS7, the emission norms are expected to become even stricter, and manufacturers will have to retune their engines to reduce emissions. As Euro 7 and BS7 emission norms are similar, let’s take a quick look at the norms to know what we can expect from BS7.
Stricter than BS6: As mentioned above, BS7 is going to be stricter than BS6. The BS7 emission norms would suggest minimizing NOx and PM emissions. It should be noted that the current BS6 vehicles in the market come with catalytic converters, DPFs, and OBDs to monitor real-time emission levels. To achieve the lower emission numbers to meet BS7 norms, the engines will have to be equipped with more efficient combustion processes, advanced filters, and advancements in exhaust after-treatment systems.
Fuel Neutral: The upcoming BS7 emission norms are going to be fuel neutral, which means the standard for both petrol and diesel vehicles is going to be the same. This means diesel vehicles are going to get even more expensive than they already are. This move would force manufacturers to remove diesel engine options from affordable cars completely.
BS7 Is Not Just About Tailpipe Emissions: The BS7 emission norms will go beyond tailpipe emissions and impose additional limits on particulate emissions even from brakes and microplastic emissions from tires. Even the vapor emissions that occur when a petrol car is refueled will also be monitored.
The aim of implementing these advanced norms is to make the whole automobile ecosystem cleaner and the earth a better place to live.
BS7 Will Cover EVs Too: The upcoming BS7 emission norms are not just about ICE vehicles. EVs will also be included. The government will implement regulations to monitor the durability of the batteries. With stricter norms, manufacturers will be careful about the quality, resulting in the long life of EVs as customers will not have to replace the batteries frequently. This would also bring down the demand for essential raw materials required to manufacture batteries.
Fuel Efficiency: As the engine is being tuned to burn the fuel more efficiently, the BS7 compliant engines are expected to be more efficient than the current ones. Hybrid technology would become a lot more popular, and we can expect this tech even in smaller cars. Manufacturers like Maruti have already revealed their plans for the series hybrid technology for the Fronx, which would later be carried forward to the Swift and many other models.