You might have noticed cars on the roads with signs such as BSIII or BSIV compatible, etc. This is all actually the Emission standards put forth by the government of India for the Indian Automobiles. This is actually nothing much but the Euro norms being implemented here under the tag of Bharat. Currently India is under pursuit of the BSIV or the Bharat Stage 4 of the emission standards being implemented. It has already come into effect into many of our cities but it is still a problem to get it implemented in the rest of the country due to a lot of issues.The Bharat Emission norms actually give out the maximum amount of particulate matter or pollutants that the exhaust gas can give out. If the number is above that, then the vehicle cannot be sold in the market. The pollutants range from Nitrogen Oxide, Sulfur, Carbon dioxide and other suspended particulate matter. Europe has very strict rules about it, but India being a huge country and a lot to manage; it is quite difficult to implement it in full force.
The main thing about the Bharat Emission standards has to do with the fuel being used. The emission comes when the fuel is burnt, so the fuel has to be refined in such a way that it must be void of most of the matters causing pollution which means there must be no Lead (Pb) and Sulfur content. We already have unleaded fuel in the country but apart from that the Sulfur needs to be controlled. To tackle this issue the vehicles then have to be fitted with catalytic converters. Now many of the modern bikes are already available with these fitted on them and this is because if the emission norms which needed to be met.
READ ALSO: What Are Catalytic Converters & How Do They Work?
But if suppose the fuel is not properly refined for the BSIV level, then the extra pollutants will have a toll on the catalytic converter and that means it will be needed to be replaced with greater frequency. This might all sound really simple to do so, but the main problem all lies in the root of the problem, the fuel. The bike makers and car makers have no issues following the system since they already have it in place in Europe and simply getting the tech here to meet the standards is no issue here at all. It is the fuel refineries.
It so happens that to refine the fuel to BSIV standards, addition equipment worth around INR 80,000 crores is required which the companies do not have. So for that reason the BSIII standard fuel is available. Also to collect that much amount of money, there will be additional Cess added to the fuel which is another issue that the general public will not like. Add to that the overall cost of the BSIV fuel is more than BSIII fuel so people will definitely opt for that itself. And not just that, but also BSIII standard complaint vehicles are cheaper than BSIV complaint ones, so again public in general prefer to opt for them which becomes another big issue.And if you thought all this is really bad, then here is the worst part of it. Diesel which is the most polluting of fuels and cruder than petrol actually is used more in our country. To be precise the figure is somewhere around 4.5:1; you can guess the kind of pollution we are making and why the government wants to bring in BSIV and later BSV and BSVI too soon. The plan is to get BSIV implemented all over India by 2017, get in BSV which stricter norms by 2022 and BSVI by 2024. If this actually becomes true we can expect a lot more in the field of automobiles because of one simple reason.
The stricter norms means more refinement and that will mean better fuel efficiency figures, greater power and less pollution which is good for all of us. As for two wheelers, there is a lot less to work around with it as many of the bikes are pretty much standard all over the world which means there are less things to modify. Hence bikes will always be complaint with the Euro standards and hence will always be one step further than the Bharat Standard and that is something less to worry about for us bikers which is great.
READ ALSO: Effects Of High Octane Fuel On Motorcycle Performance
So just make sure that your bike is complaint to the latest emission standard. If you happen to be using a bike which is older than 10 years I would suggest you to upgrade to a new better model simply for the sake of the environment and the law. And also keep your bike serviced and maintained. When filling up fuel make sure it is absolutely unadulterated fuel and most importantly it is pure in all forms and completely refined. That means filling up from only the trusted filling station at all times.
By: Pratik Patole