What is BS1 BS2 BS3 BS4…?

Bharat Stage (BS 1,2,3,…)

are Auto Emmission norms which were introduced in India in 2000. Each stage determines different levels/limits on the pollutants being released from the vehicle. These pollutants can be oxides of nitrogen, carbon, sulfur etc. In the following topic we are going to discuss various questions like:

• Why there is a need for BS?
• Ongoing BS IV
• How to know BS of my vehicle?
• Impact of coronavirus outbreak on Automobile sector of India.

 

Why there is a need for BS?

Delhi and the NCR region was once the most polluted city in the world. This resulted in respiratory and cardiovascular diseases of the people. Finally government went on high alert and promised to enforce strict emmission regulations to curb this pollution.

The BS III was introduced in October 2010. BS IV was introduced in 13 major cities in 2010 for 4 wheelers only.

All these enforcements are done by Central Polution Control Board which is under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The government is also determined to ban the use of BS IV vehicles by 2020. It requires lot of technical development in the factory to produce a vehicle which is complaint with next stage of standards set as pollution limits. Even the fuel producing companies require to invest a lot of money in the infrastructure to produce a better quality fuel. Keeping all these in mind the government has decidedto skip BS V and adopt BS VI by 2020.

This move is under the Auto Fuel Policy 2025 which was formulated by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Ongoing BS IV

Even today BS IV complaint fuel is not being supplied all over the country. Nrth Indian states like- Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, U.P. are using BS IV fuel while rest of the country is reliant on BS II grade fuel. This is also due to the vehicle machinery. The pollutants being released depends mainly on two factors:

1. Vehicle Machinery.
2. Fuel.

Vehicle Machinery: A BS IV complaint vehicle must have following properties:

Bigger catalytic converters which nullifies the emmision of nitrogen based gases.

These catalytic convertors also require a secondary airflow for the supply of ambient air.

Carbon canster can also be found inside the fuel tank.

Fuel: Benzene level < 1%

Sulfur level = 0.005% ( for metros, petrol and diesel vehicles)

The sulfur content in ppm should be 350ppm for petrol and 150ppm for diesel to comply with the standard value of BS IV fuel.

These values are further going to be reduced to 10ppm by 2020 according to Auto Fuel Policy 2025 which is in accordance with BS VI policy.

How to know BS of my vehicle:

The first step is to check the papers of the vehicle. The paper related to the pollution with green sticker has some mention on the BS standard.

Next you can go to check catalytic converters on the silencer. BS IV vehicles also come with air filter on the to of the Engine. Canster is also available which improves the working of engine by absrobing the hydrocarbon vapour inside the tank.

Impact of coronavirus outbreak on Automobile sector of India

Recently the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) has published its monthly report. The government wants to clear up the remaining BS IV vehicles by 31st March. This does not seem possible specially for the 2 wheelers.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak the sales of automotive industry are nosediving. This is the report published by FADA on February 2020 sales.

On YoY basis;

Relief package for the automotive sector has been announced. The Supreme Court has rejected applications requesting to extend the sunset date for BS IV vehicles.

Production of automotive industry has come to a standstill. The companies who manufacture components of automobile also have stopped production. According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers ( SIAM ) there is a daily loss of 2300 crore to the sector. There still remains 6300 crore of BS IV vehicles waiting to be sold out in the market.

Hope you like the post. Please Comment and share