Next challenge for automakers: Image makeover of diesel cars

The research and development (R&D) head of a top car maker sat through the three-hour Supreme Court hearing on the fate of diesel passenger vehicles. The veteran, whose company is not impacted by the court’s registration ban on diesel vehicles (2,000 cc and above) in Delhi national capital region (NCR) was seen interacting closely with other industry colleagues and industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) during the lunch break.

The crisis has brought players together in an industry where companies indulge in aggressive competition to defend and increase market share. The automobile sector has a major challenge at hand: to convince the apex court that diesel passenger cars are not the main culprit behind Delhi’s pollution. The uphill task comes at a time when the world over diesel technology is coming under the scanner.

At Tuesday’s hearing, where players such as Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota argued in favour of diesel vehicles and sought a relief to sell diesel vehicles of 2,000 cc and above in NCR, the court maintained status quo and asked if diesel vehicles were polluting oxygen. The registration ban, imposed on December 16, is in place till March 31, 2016. The ban saddles companies with idle capacity and puts a question mark on the future of investments done in diesel manufacturing.

Siam, through its lawyer Sandeep Narain, has put forth a series of arguments in a written submission to the court for consideration before the next hearing on January 20. The industry body has cited a draft report of Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, according to which diesel cars account for two per cent of particulate matter (PM) 2.5, an air pollutant. “Of this two per cent, at least 1.5 per cent of PM2.5 is attributable to BS-I, II and III cars. The BS-IV-compliant cars, registration of which is banned, contribute to a minuscule 0.5 per cent to total PM2.5 emission in Delhi,” Narain said in the submission.

The R&D executive who attended the hearing on Tuesday said, “The IIT-Kanpur report clearly states the contribution of road dust to PM2.5 in Delhi is the largest at 38 per cent, followed by vehicles (20 per cent), domestic fuel burning (12 per cent) and industry (11 per cent). The rest comes from diesel generator sets, construction, etc. Of the 20 per cent contribution from vehicles, trucks account for 46 per cent, two-wheelers 33 per cent and passenger cars 10 per cent. The finding makes is clear that passenger vehicles are not the culprit.”

Siam also said the argument that diesel cars emit seven times more PM compared to petrol is based on a 2007 study with diesel cars that followed BS-III norms. With diesel cars now complying with BS-IV norms, the PM emission has come down by 50 per cent, it added. “Banning the registration of latest technology BS-IV cars shall not result in improving the air quality of Delhi, but would instead allow old technology cars to ply,” Siam stated.

WIN DIESEL?

• Vehicles comply with laid-down emission standards
   
• BS-IV-compliant cars contribute only 0.5 per cent to PM2.5 in Delhi
   
• Pollutants like CO, CO2 and benzene higher in petrol vehicles
   
• Average PM2.5 level constant for a decade, despite rising vehicle numbers
   
• New-tech diesel engines don’t cause carcinogenic lung tumours
   
• No linkage between engine size and particulate matter emissions