[volkman10]

India has notified new norms for passenger vehicles that mandate an average increase of at least 14% in mileage from 2016-17 and 38% five years thereafter.

The mandated average under the new norms is 18.2 km by 2016-17 and 22 km by 2021-22. Currently it is ~16km/l for cars/vans/utilty vehicles.

The new norms, notified as 'Corporate Average Fuel Consumption' (CAFC) standards, will be mandatory for the entire automobile industry and cover all auto fuels including petrol, diesel and gas. The standards, which will also apply to all imported vehicles, stipulate the consumption of fuel on the basis of total vehicles manufactured and not models of cars. Fuel consumption will be calculated on the basis of the vehicle's weight. About eight different weight categories have been proposed.

The standards, which will be implemented by the ministry of road transport and highways, will catapult India into the league of select nations including the United States, Germany,Japan and China that strictly enforce such norms with harsh penalties for violation.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/30361750.cms

[Rahul Rao]

I think a flat efficiency for all vehicles should not be applied.
Something like Gross weight upto 1500 kg and 1200 cc Petrol or 1500 cc Diesel should return 18 kmpl for Petrol and 22 kmpl for diesel.
Next stage GVW upto 2500 kg and petrol upto 1800cc and diesel upto 2500 cc should return 12 kmpl for Petrol and 15 kmpl for diesel.

Rahul

[shankar.balan]

This is a great initiative. However, unless the infrastructure improves significantly and there are less bottlenecks, broken roads, unfinished, unpaved portions of road, better lane discipline etc, we will still WASTE a lot of Fuel by idling or using low gear.

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by Rahul Rao

I think a flat efficiency for all vehicles should not be applied.

My understanding is a little different. But I don't know if you are right or I am.

Here is what I understand:
'Corporate Average Fuel Consumption' is the average fuel efficiency of all cars under a brand.
For example, consider Fiat (because they have only 2 cars ):
Punto 1.2 P - ~15 kmpl
Punto 1.4 P - ~14 kmpl
Punto 1.3 D - ~20 kmpl
Punto 1.3 D 90 HP - ~19 kmpl

Linea 1.4 P - ~14 kmpl
Linea 1.4 P Tjet - ~15 kmpl
Linea 1.3 D - ~19 kmpl

(note that I could be wrong with the figures, as this is just an example)

So average fuel efficiency of Fiat is ~16.5 kmpl.

This means, if Fiat has to achieve the target Corporate Average Fuel Consumption, it will have to either launch extra-efficient models (such as hybrid, or small displacement motors), or discontinue inefficient motors.

Then I have a question:
Datsun is registered subsidiary of Nissan. So, will the Corporate Average Fuel Consumption of Nissan and Datsun will be calculated together?

However, Renault is a different legal entity in India, so it shouldn't come into picture.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

So average fuel efficiency of Fiat is ~16.5 kmpl.

Fleet fuel economy is calculated using a harmonic mean, not a simple arithmetic mean (average)!

[IshaanIan]

So it isn't the average of the FE figures of all the models offered by a brand?? Will someone please explain!

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Fleet fuel economy is calculated using a harmonic mean, not a simple arithmetic mean (average)!

Any idea why?

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

So it isn't the average of the FE figures of all the models offered by a brand?? Will someone please explain!

In my example then, the harmonic mean should be calculated like this:

Total number of variants = 7

Harmonic mean = total number of variants divided by sum of reciprocals of FE of all variants

= 7 / (1/15 + 1/14 + 1/20 + 1/19 + 1/14 + 1/15 + 1/19)
= ~ 7/0.43
= ~ 16.27 kmpl

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Any idea why?

That is the International norm in calcualtion of CAFE, unless India decides to go another way!

The harmonic mean captures the fuel economy of driving each car in the fleet for the same number of kms, while the arithmetic mean captures the fuel economy of driving each car using the same amount of fuel.

Cheers!

[CARDEEP]

As per a report in ET, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has notified new norms for passenger vehicles that mandate an average increase of at least 14% in mileage from 2016-17 & 38% five years thereafter. At present, passenger vehicles currently run for about 16 km on a litre of fuel. The mandated average under the new norms is 18.2 km by 2016-17 & 22 km by 2021-22.


More details here:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/30361750.cms

My question is how are these goals going to be achieved? Efficient & lighter engine design, engine size (displacement) downsizing, more electronics, turbo chargers, hybrid tech, etc.

However, I fear the quest of higher efficiency might haven an impact on reliability & longevity of the engine. Food for thought:

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs...ty-in-15-years

IMO there has to be a balance of the above factors, rather than aping European & US standards, which may be difficult to achieve, also because of extreme climatic conditions in India.

[one-77]

Greater fuel efficiency is good, but how will independent small companies that make high-performance cars (for example McLaren) be able to meet these norms?

Also if companies (like Maruti, for example) were to make their cars lighter to improve efficiency, won't that make our already frail cars even more unsafe?

Also, what about the much greater amounts of fuel being lost to bad, clogged roads, bad driving, ancient vehicles, etc? Does the government have plans to address these?

[deep_bang]

well. What is to stop a manufacturer to launch a small car with a small engine, which is not at all viable to sell, but still works to satisfy the government norms? Should not this parameter also be linked to the number of cars sold or manufactured?

[volkman10]

The government's new fuel-efficiency guidelines for passenger vehicles will not push up cost of cars substantially, at least in the first stage that will kick in from April 2016.





http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/31804471.cms

[pratyush6]

Good Initiative. Now what about setting the house up in order first? We don't need rocket scientist to improve the traffic flow in our country, the methods are all known.

As Shankar mentioned, what about trying to smoothen the traffic on the road?

Safety Concern:
I have a bigger concern though, for most manufacturers the easiest way to increase fuel efficiency is reduce the weight of the car - Not necessarily a bad thing, but if not done properly, can create a havoc with the structural safety of a car.
I would rather drive a safe car which gives me 16kmpl than something which compromises on safety and gives me 20. Just my two cents.

And Oh BTW - weren't we supposed to have the safety standards by 2015 too?

[volkman10]

Road and Power Ministries differ on proposed fuel effiecincy norms.

Under the new norms finalised by BEE, automakers would have to comply with the new standards from 2016 rather than 2017 as supposed to have been previously agreed

Industry experts and SIAM indicated that this target would be hard to meet given that companies have already started planning with the 2017 implementation deadline in mind

The ministry of road transport and highways has objected to the power ministry's recently-notified fuel efficiency norms for passenger vehicles, reflecting the concerns of India's automobile industry that new emission levels are being stipulated a year ahead of the deadline that had been agreed

http://auto.economictimes.indiatimes...norms/34668587

[Desi Dybuk]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

Good Initiative. Now what about setting the house up in order first? We don't need rocket scientist to improve the traffic flow in our country, the methods are all known.
.
.
.
And Oh BTW - weren't we supposed to have the safety standards by 2015 too?

I'm a Transportation engineer by training. During my informal chats with the city engineers & policy makers on why they aren't concentrating on increasing the road capacity in a chocked city like Bangalore, they say that there's no money. I say that the amount of fuel wasted by the chocked city roads in 100 times more than what it would cost to buy the right-of-way to widen the roads.

Their next typical response would be some snide remark about my Yankee accent & how things work like that in US and not in India.

I have lost hope about rational thinking in this country.