Delhi switches to BS-VI fuel much before its actual schedule

Posted on 27 Mar 2018

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Delhi has become the first city in India to run vehicles on Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) fuels, two years ahead of its estimated deadline. The BS-VI fuel was set to be launched in the capital on April 1 but is already being supplied although majority of motorists may be unaware of it.

Since February fuel retailers – predominantly state-run firms – have been pushing for cleaner petrol and diesel on the lines of EuroVI fuels, flush supply pipelines and tanks at petrol pumps. Delhi has close to 400 petrol pumps and almost all of them are now selling BS-VI fuels.

Delhi has gained infamy for its high pollution levels and new fuel hardly made any difference when run on BS-III and BS-IV vehicles in terms of engine performance. However, it is believed that BS-VI vehicles will bring down pollution levels drastically. Government has now given automakers a September 2020 deadline to sell BS-VI vehicles all across India, reported The Times of India.

There was a public outcry recently when smoke from burning crop stubbles by farmers in neighbouring states choked the atmosphere of Delhi. Additionally emissions from ill-maintained commercial vehicles with old engines added fuel to the fire. Both these factors forced the government to speed up and jump the deadline that was set earlier.

Seeing the backlash from public, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan directed state-run fuel retailers to supply BS-VI fuels in Delhi from April 1, 2018 and strongly consider implementing this for the whole of the National Capital Region by April 2019.

Oil company executives are jubilant at the development. According to them BS-VI is a better option than CNG. However, experts from auto industry believes that all vehicles are not tuned for BS-VI fuels and it may not make much difference if the fuel is used by vehicles whose engines are BS-III or BS-IV.

Apart from Mercedes no other automakers are selling vehicles with BS-VI engines currently.

India has already skipped the BS-V stage thanks to Nitin Gadkari’s interventions. Society of Indian Auto Manufacturers has welcomed the move to introduce BS-VI fuels in Delhi as it was in tune with international best practices.