Why in news?
The supply of Euro-VI grade fuel (also known as Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI grade fuel) began in cities adjoining the National Capital Region (NCR) on April 1, 2019. Delhi in April 2018 became the first city in the country to roll-out BS-VI grade fuel, both petrol and diesel.
- What are BS norms?
- The Bharat stage emission standards (BSES) are emission standards instituted by the Government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants from compression ignition engines and Spark-ignition engines equipment, including motor vehicles.
- The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the MoEFCC.
- These standards are based on the lines of European norms commonly known as EURO 2, EURO 3 and so on.
- The fourth iteration BS IV or BS4 was introduced in 2017 and the delay between the introduction of BS3 and BS4 resulted in fast-tracking the BSVI or BS6 emission instead of BSV or BS5 norms.
- Each of these emission norms has stricter emission standards compared to its predecessors.
- Difference between BS-IV and the new BS-VI:
- Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) are being introduced with the roll-out of BS VI norms, which were not a part of BS IV.
- Real Driving Emission (RDE), which will measure a vehicle’s emission in real-time conditions against laboratory conditions, will be introduced in India for the first time with the implementation of BS VI.
- In BS VI, Onboard Diagnostics (OD) has been made mandatory for all vehicles.
- The sulphur traces in BS6 fuel is five times lower (10 ppm) as compared to sulphur traces in B.
- The emission of NOx (nitrogen oxides) from diesel cars is also expected to reduce by nearly 70% and 25% from cars with petrol engines.
