RDE norms and its impact on automobiles

What is AdBlue for Diesel engine?

AdBlue is liquid that helps to reduce emissions of
nitrogen oxides, or NOx, from your car’s exhaust

As pollution is increasing day by day, government is taking
various steps to curb it. Various steps like- moving to ZEV, Hybrid vehicles,
Flex Fuel bases vehicles and recently moving to Hydrogen based cars. Well this
step could be only option in last, but i hope in 2030, these will be completed. 

You must have listen Indian government has declared to Ban
BS4 cars from April 2020. BS6 will be adopted by replacing BS4. And BS6 will be
mandatory from April 2020. Now this- RDE norms will be added along with BS6
compliance from April 2023. So what are meaning of BS4 and BS6. Why it is
important for car maker. What will be impact on automakers?

What are these BS4 and BS6 compliance?

These are emission norms regulated by Government of India.
Mission of Bharat stage is to improve environment by reducing CO2, CO, Nitrogen
oxides and Hydrocarbons.

Bharat Stage is based on EURO emission standard, which
started in 2000. In 2023 Bharat Stage 6 is latest standard based upon EURO 6
standard.

Compared to the BS4 norms, BS6 norms have increased
restrictions on the permissible pollutants emitted by petrol and diesel
engines.

Before going direct to understand changes due to BS6 norms,
let’s understand engine and its configuration.

What is Engine and its size?

Engine is mechanical device which produce power by burning
fuels. Amount to power an engine can produce does depend on its size also on
uses of turbochargers. Engine size means how much space the engine piston
operates in. Bigger engine size number, more air and fuel each piston can push
when they move, leading to more engine power.

Engine displacement refers engine capacity. IF an engine is
described as 2.0 liter 4 cylinder engines it mean engine has an estimate
capacity of 500cc in each of its cylinder.

What changes will be done in BS6 car?

1. When
   we move BS4 to BS6 we have do major changes in engine configuration. Changes
   like- Change in engine displacement, changes in fuel injection and its amount,
   Changes in valve timing, Changes in Engine size, Addition of advance sensor and
   devices for emission monitoring and control.
2. Installation
   of Selective Catalytic Reduction and Diesel Particulate Filter to monitor
   emission levels in BS6 vehicles. However, it was not present in the BS4 norms.
3. Integration
   of a mandatory Onboard Diagnostic (OBD) that can inform vehicle
   owners/technicians how efficient different vehicle systems are.
4. Electronic
   fuel injectors will be used in cars. This will replace old carburetors.
5. Introduction
   of Real Driving Emission (RDE) Norms to measure real-world and real-time
   emissions of a vehicle in addition to only tested emissions.

Why need of RDE norms in India?

RDE norms will be implemented and effective from 1^st
April 2023. To understand RDE norms and its need, we have to first understand
how emission testing is done of any vehicle. Currently emission testing is done
in laboratory to comply BS6 standard. As a result, carmakers’ emission values
generally differ greatly from real-world conditions. Government decided to develop a testing method
that can measure emissions in actual driving conditions rather than labs. This
decision of RDE norms is to further reduce air pollutant from vehicle.

With effect from April 1st, 2023, RDE Norms will bind
carmakers to test and measure pollutants emitted from their vehicles in a
real-world driving scenario.

For this purpose, carmakers will be required to equip their
vehicles with a Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS). So as per RDE
norms all vehicles running on a diesel engine will be required to have Selective
Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems onboard.

When BS6 was started in India, larger diesel engine (more
than 2.0 Ltr) has already upgraded SCR system. But small capacity diesel engine
follows LNT system which allow vehicle to achieve lower pollution level.

What changes need to done in car under RDE
norms?

1. PEMS- Portable emission measurement system will be installed in car. All
   vehicles running on diesel engine required to have SCR- Selective catalytic
   reduction system. By using AdBlue, the Selective Catalytic Reduction systems
   will greatly reduce emissions of compounds such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) by
   converting pollutants into water, nitrogen and minute amounts of carbon dioxide
2. Now as per new RDE norms vehicles will have onboard self diagnosis
   device to monitor emission level in real world driving scenario. This OBD
   device will check emission level in car and will display an alert to driver if
   emission level increased beyond the parameter of BS6 norms.
3. Programmed fuel injectors will be equipped which will manage amount of
   fuel injection and its timing.
4. Entire power train to be changed for 2.0 or more than 2.0 liter capacity
   engine which will be fully BS6 compliant.  
5. Under new RDE norms, car makers have to use more sophisticated and
   expensive SCR system for all types of diesel engine cars. Due to which cost of
   vehicle will increased.

How PEMS works in car?

A Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS) is used to
measure vehicle emissions on the road rather than in the laboratory. This
methodology, soon to be included as part of the official test for new cars, is
used by Emissions Analytics to build a detailed database of real-world
emissions. Data from over 1000 real-world vehicle tests is available via
subscription. See below picture for understanding:-

What is impact of RDE norms on Carmakers?

Now car makers have to change in their engine configuration
to meet these norms. Car manufacturers have to change power train fully BS6
compliant. Due to which production costs will increased as well vehicle cost
will be increased.

As explained above, what changes come in BS6 car, you see automobile
car maker has to change a lot of thing n engine, which add additional cost in
manufacturing.  To meet these changes car
maker has to spend a lot of money.

For example if Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest car manufacturer
needs to adopt BS6 compliant, then they need to change all diesel engines which
could be most costly for them since they making a large volume cars. So they
decided to discontinue all diesel cars in 2020.

But some car manufacturer like Honda, Hyundai, Tata and
Mahindra continue to make diesel cars in India. 
Soon after RDE norms they have decided to halt production of diesel car
in their plants also.

So from April 2023, you may not be able to buy Honda City 5^th
generation, Hyundai i20 diesel, Verna, Toyota Innova Crysta, Skoda and Octavia
cars, etc.

Conclusion:-

• RDE norms are
  additional measures with BS6 norms to reduce more emission. 
• It is second phase of
  BS6 compliance. 
• RDE norms will be
  implemented in India from April-2023.
• RDE norms will cover
  all diesel engine either it is small or large capacity engine.
• Due to RDE norms cost
  of car manufacturing will be increased.
• In RDE norms,
  electronic fuel injection (EFI) to be equipped in cars.
• PEMS to be used with
  new model car for testing emission level in real world scenario. 
• SCR will be used as per
  RDE norms.
• In real world scenario,
  driver will get displayed alert if emission level increased beyond BS6
  limit then user needs to service his car.

This was short intro about RDE and SCR in automobile. If you
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