India Sets Fuel Economy Targets

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India recently announced a new schedule of mandates to raise the fuel efficiency of passenger cars over the next eight years. Observers say the rules will compel automakers to invest in new technologies and should help spur use of higher quality lubricants.

Laid down last month by the national Bureau ofEnergy Efficiency, the new regulation requires the average fuel economy for passenger vehicles to reach 18.2 kilometers per liter by the 2016-17 fiscal year and 22 km/l by 2021-22. The current average is 16 km/l, the bureau said. Officials said the mandate will reduce fuel demand in India and lower vehicular emissions of carbon dioxide. Passenger vehicles in India generate an average of 142 grams of CO2 per km today, but the bureau estimates that the fuel economy standards will reduce that rate to 130 g/km by 2021-22.

Manufacturers that fail to comply face stiff penalties. Under the 2001 Energy Conservation Act, India already imposes an initial fine of 10 lakh rupees (1 million rupees or U.S. $16,433) plus 10,000 rupees a day against car makers that fail to meet carbon emission norms based on average emissions of total passenger vehicle sales. A top BEE official said the same fines will apply for the fuel efficiency mandates.

Soundarya Shankar, a chemicals, materials and food research analyst in the Chennai office of market research firm Frost & Sullivan, told Lube Report Asia that automakers will have to make significant design changes in order to meet the fuel efficiency mandates and that these will have impacts on lubricants. [T]echnologies such as engine downsizing, turbo-charging and super-charging will gain momentum, she said, adding that engine oils will therefore have to provide better high-temperature performance and better protection against turbo-charger deposits.

Anuj Kumar, a consultant with in Kline & Co.s Gurgaon office, said For better fuel efficiency, vehicles would require lower viscosity engine oils with good viscosity index improvers and friction modifiers. Most of the OEMs in India are increasingly recommending lighter viscosity grades, such as 5W-30, compared to the 15W-40 and 20W-50 oils recommended until a few years back.

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