Troubled with increasing level of CO2 emissions and rising consumption of energy, the biggest challenge being faced for a sustainable future is to conserve, reproduce energy and reduce CO2 emission. In 2010, road transport emitted 204 millions tones of CO2 and is expected to reach 500 million tons by 2020 in India.
According to A.T. Kearney & CII joint study "India, the third-largest contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inthe world, is already starting to witness the effects of global warming as seen by the 1.5ºC increasein average annual temperature over the past 50 years. The transportation sector accounts for 10-12%of the total GHG emissions in India and has seen a rising trend over the years. Of the various transport modes employed in in the country, road transport is responsible for the dominant share (~85 percent) of GHG emissions. Passenger transportation accounts for 45 percent of the total GHG emissions and the movement of goods the remaining 55 percent."
The on-road vehicle population is expected to reach at 300 million by 2020 globally. Currently, India has a vehicle population of around 68 million which is expected to grow at the rate of 6- 7% to reach about 120 million in the next 10 years.
It is certainly a different world now compared to what we had three decades ago. And mobility solutions have walked many steps beyond being a necessity. This highlights the opportunity for Indian automotive manufacturer as well the challenge to develop competitive edge over its counterparts abroad.
The significant environmental implications of vehicles cannot be denied. Rightfully, the need to reduce vehicular pollution has led to emission control through regulations in conjunction with increasingly environment-friendly technologies.
The customers have become environment conscious and choosy in terms of quality and features of vehicles at the same time the government is steadfastly formulating stringent norms for cutting carbon emission.
Inthis direction it is expected that there will be approximately 20 million electric and hybrid vehicles by 2020 globally. While in India EVs and Hybrid population will go up with the help of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan of the government of India, which would aim at adding green mobility within India.
Unfortunately, India till now doesn’t have many indigenous manufacturers in this domain. The situation at the component makers is even more worrisome. Almost all electric vehicle parts are imported from China and other markets.
However, EV being a sustainable and clean technology remains debatable subject. As some argue that the pollution caused in production of batteries and generation of electricity almost equals the pollution cause in case of burning of fuels in traditional vehicle.
There is no denying that Indian automotive industry is quite young and it was only in 1991 that the first stage emission norms came into force for petrol vehicles and in 1992 for diesel vehicles. But now it’s time to pace up in terms of building engineering and technological capability to remain competitive.
The government has been planning to make it mandatory for car makers to improve per kilometre mileage by at least 20 percent by 2020 from the current average of 16.6km per litre of fuel. The government previously announced that it wants to increase it to 18.1km/litre by 2015 and 20.79km/litre by 2020.
In a latest announcement on January 30, 2014 the power ministry notified new energy consumption standards for passenger vehicles running on petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001. This means automakers have to conform to carbon dioxide emissions of 129.8 g/km for vehicles manufactured from 2016 and 113 g/km from 2022 onwards.
Under the new norms finalised by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), automakers would have to comply with the new standards from 2016 rather than 2017 as supposed to have been previously agreed.
Fuel efficiency standards BEE, will be measured in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Earlier it was also announced that on the basis of their fuel efficiency, BEE, which comes under the power ministry, will give a one star rating for the least fuel efficient vehicles and five stars for the most efficient in their respective weight class.
The mega trends globally, in this direction, have been toward weight reduction by using lighter component. A lot of heavy metals have been replaced with lighter substitutes such as engineering plastic and aluminum for the gasoline and diesel engine vehicles. At the same time a newer fuel options such as Hydrogen, high ethanol have been adopted.
Some of the Indian component manufacturers have been successful in developing lighter alternatives but with support from their foreign collaborators. Plastic fuel tray, hollow piston rod struts, light weight door, metal-free and reproducible filters, and thinner bumper has been produced in India. But unfortunately, very few of these technological developments are indigenous.
The Indian companies still lack far behind from its global counterpart in terms of investment in research and development. Global average investment in R&D is between 2-5% of therevenue where as in India this is below 1%.
However, the most popular adaptation for reducing carbon footprint has been hybrid and EV which is a costly affair and India is still not prepared for this. Yet micro hybrid technology and innovations on such as start-stop option, advanced fuel injection, downsizing and turbocharging, automated manual transmission, selective catalytic reduction, variable valve control cylinder deactivation, engine friction reduction tire resistance reduction etc can be of great help.
According to a report by Auto Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) nearly 30 to 40 percent of engines in India are less 1200cc so technologies to further downsize engines, along with suitable turbocharging, will be needed to drive fuel efficiency.
The manufacturers and value engineering to meet India’s requirements could drive down costs of green technology. Key technology and component where this will be crucial include electronic control units (ECUs) and actuators needed in automated manual transmission systems, small gasoline and advanced diesel (VGT and Variable-nozzle turbines) turbocharing, high pressure direct injectionsystems, small electric parts, and lithium-ion battery.
While internal combustion engines (ICE) and its components are becoming more efficient and will constitute main part of the vehicle population over the next eight to ten years and adaptation of such technologies may result in cutting down CO2 emission by 5 to 10 percent.
From component industry, the response towards EV and hybrid technology has been very cold and the reason goes to the egg and the chicken story. They see bleak hope in terms of demand and availability of infrastructure to go to the next level.
The manufacturers should look at strengthening its capabilities toward developing/innovating these technologies which will ensue in future. The biggest challenge for the industry in achieving thiscould be the cost factor for which the government should take some encouraging actions such as incentives to customers and automotive industry players can lower the net cost tothe vehicle owners.
Capability gapswill also need to be addressed to develop and implement certain technologies. Although this will required a substantial investment but total size of the component could reach $15 to $17 billion in new revenue by 2020. While creating a conducive environment for localised manufacturing of green vehicle technologies can substantially lower costs.
Domestic technology will improve local supplier’s abilities with the unique requirement. The government must extend support in terms of R &D. The government should also consider fixing the age limit and scrapage policy across the country.
Containing of CO2 emission doesn’t end with the vehicles on the road, but also on the process of manufacturing adopted by the component makers and the OEMs. The manufacturing unit should equally go green with reduced consumption of energy and pollution. The process should be continuously improved to increase efficiency and reduce wastage.
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