Starting April 1, all vehicles sold in the country will have to be equipped to meet the BS6 Phase 2 emission norms. But with all the buzz around the price hike and tech name, what is it exactly that changes for the end consumer?
While for the real-world riding/driving feel, there hardly will be any noticeable changes, the answer lies under the hood. There will be an addition of an OBD (On Board Diagnostic) device (for vehicles that were earlier not fitted with it) standardised fitting for all vehicles sold in the country.
The OBD will monitor the real-time driving emission levels, and monitor key parts for meeting the emission standard such as the catalytic converter, and oxygen sensor if any of those parameters would exceed the prescribed norms, it would provide an indication that the vehicle would need to be checked/serviced.
The key difference between BS6 and BS6 2.0 vehicles is that in the earlier models, the emission levels were tested in lab conditions, and now each vehicle will have its own monitoring done on a real-time basis. The emission levels between two BS6 2.0 vehicles can also be different, based on real-world driving as well as traffic conditions.
Why diesel models are being discontinued?
One of the key queries for most people is why is that there is a dearth of diesel variants in the mass-market passenger vehicle segment. The answer simply put is not because meeting the emission norms is a challenge, the issue is the incremental price increase.
In the mass-market segment the price for a diesel passenger vehicle with BS6 2.0 engine would be significantly higher than its petrol counterpart, this is in addition to the already existing price difference. As a result, most OEMs have seen a tilt towards CNG, Petrol, and Petrol-hybrid models.
For a BS6 2.0 diesel engine, the vehicle will need to be equipped with SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) device, which uses AdBlue (a water-based urea solution) to treat the pollutants. OEMs like Mercedes-Benz already had this technology incorporated in their vehicles, but for most automakers, the challenge is to be able to convince customers to accept the price hike.
Price hikes?
Unlike the transition from BS4 to BS6, the price hikes on vehicles across segments have been quite negligible. This is because of the fact, that the technology upgrade between BS6 and BS6 2.0 is not as significant as it was from the earlier transition.
In addition, the automakers have announced a price hike ranging from 2 percent to 5 percent, and few may have it in the upper single-digit percentage. Nonetheless, the industry expects this to have a negligible impact on retail sales.
