How BS7 will kill your diesel cars forever

June 6th, 2024

Indian Government Set to imply BS7 Norms in the Auto Industry to bring down vehicle-emitted Pollution

The Indian Road Transport Ministry is becoming stricter at regular intervals. With the new sets of rules and norms stated for the vehicles in India are making days hard for both the Passenger Car and the Commercial Industry. Recently, there has been a firm speculation roaming around of the Government set to implement the BS-7 in the Indian Auto industry.

BS-7, which also stands for Bharat Stage 7, is a set of rules for the Auto Industry of India in order to lower the pollution caused by vehicles. The series of BS pollution norms has usually been inspired by the EURO series of pollution norms implemented in the European Automotive Market. The BS-7 is also said to be similar to the EURO-7 norms of Europe.

This is usually done for two major reasons →

To lower down the pollution caused by Vehicles by implementing strict pollution norms.

To make export of vehicles made in India easier to the European Market, as the norms followed would be similar.

What Emission Norm changes would the BS-7 bring?

The BS-7 vehicles would be a step up from the BS-6 phase 2 vehicles, which are currently being rolled on in the Indian Market. The BS-6 Phase 2 was implemented in the Indian Automotive Industry in April 2023. This included some key emission norm changes from the BS-6 Phase 1 →

Further Tightening of Particulate Matter (PM) and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emission limits, especially for Diesel-operated vehicles.

Inclusion of Selective Catalytic Converters and Gasoline Particulate Filters.

Implementation of Real-World Driving Emission (RDE) tests (Real-world tests of applicants to supervise their way of driving).

These were the changes and upgrades carried forward by the Government in the BS-6 Phase 2 over the BS-6 Phase 1. Now, let us discuss what is new in the upcoming BS-7 emission norms →

BS-7 emission norms are set to be implemented by the Government between the period of 2025 - 2026. These norms will be stricter compared to the BS-6 Phase 2 norms, and will also have a lot of limitations on vehicles, specifically Diesel-operated ones. These are some speculated changes that BS-7 will bring with itself.

Substantial limitations on the exertion of harmful gases, like CO2, NOx, PM, and Hydrocarbon particles.
Use of Twin-dosage in SCR - Selective Catalytic Reduction system.
Stricter RDE norms.
Inclusion of stricter CAFE - Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency, in order to have fuel-efficient cars, which also emit less pollutants.

How BS-7 will kill all Diesel Cars?

The R&D of these norms would not be easy, as it would demand heavy investments by the authorities, because of this, we will also see some official talks happening between Government bodies and other Stakeholders to execute these norms. These changes would be so strict and expensive to bring into the vehicles that it would not just make vehicles cleaner but also, will make a few discontinued.

The ‘discontinued’ factor is specifically for a few Diesel vehicles, as bringing in such a technological advancement in a diesel-operated vehicle would not be financially feasible for Car makers. In fact, not only Diesel-operated but, even Petrol-operated vehicles will have to make some heavy investments to make the vehicles lie under these norms. But, car makers would possibly ignore Diesel-operated cars and focus on Petrol-ones, which ultimately would result in the discontinuation of a few Diesel cars in the market.

Secondly, to some extent, we can also consider the BS-7 norms to be made in order to influence the EV transition in India even more. As the cost of bringing in BS-7 emission norms in cars would be high for Carmakers, ultimately, we would also see a substantial jump in the end price of every car in India. Hence, this will be one of the reasons for the Government to promote EVs in India even more by implying more discounts and subsidiaries on EVs.

Even though the BS-7 arrival is yet to happen, still, the Road and Transport Minister of India - Mr. Nitin Gadkari has already informed all Carmakers in 2023, to start working on their upcoming and current cars for them to sit under the upcoming BS-7 emission norms.

CARVERSAL