[TusharK]

The government of India has approved the retro fitment of CNG and LPG kits for BS6 vehicles. Until now, the government allowed only BS4 vehicles to be retrofitted with aftermarket CNG and LPG kits.



The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has shared the CNG and LPG retro-fitment rules for BS6 cars in a notification issued recently. The government has allowed the replacement of diesel engines with CNG or LPG engines in the case of BS6 vehicles weighing less than 3.5 tonnes.

The government has been promoting the use of alternate fuels like CNG and LPG to reduce the environmental pollution caused by petrol and diesel-powered vehicles. Factory-fitted CNG models have also gained popularity in recent times due to rising fuel prices.

CNG is said to be more environmentally friendly than petrol or diesel as CNG-powered engines emit less carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulates.

Source: Times Now

[GrammarNazi]

Car makers were using this time gap (in approving local dealers to fit CNG) to profiteer on the factory-fit CNG variants of their cars by charging upto 80-90k premium for them without integrating the CNG-tank within the cars' design.

Lets see, while this may seem to bring a little control over those CNG Variants, I'm sure these kits themselves will not be very cost effective.

In any case, prices of CNG too have risen sharply and AFAIK the cost-benefit economics barely makes much sense anymore unless it's for the taxi market.

[deehunk]

There is hardly any benefit now after installing a LPG Kit, CNG kits provide higher mileage but eats into the boot space. The fuel cost is also very high compared to the prices over a decade.

[Shreyans_Jain]

LPG for cars is dead. Even CNG has lost a lot of its attraction with the massive increase in gas prices over the past year. Still, this is a step in right direction. There was no reason or logic to not permitting aftermarket CNG on BS6 cars. Had to be sheer lobbying. Manufacturers had been making FAT profits with their completely jugaad integration in the name of factory fit. The entire CNG fitment industry driven wholly by small entrepreneurs had been on life support for the past 2 years. It will see some revival and recreate tens of thousands of jobs.

[bansal.sushant]

I don't understand what is the government upto really.

Everyone agrees CNG is the cleaner fuel, then why was this not allowed in the first place.

If government wants to promote CNG, why not keep the prices low? There has been a sharp increase in CNG prices! Earlier CNG was 50% of Petrol but now it's 90% of Petrol, that's crazy and quickly diluting the cost savings value provided by CNG.

Why would I spend extra money, and get into extra maintenance to move to a 'cleaner' fuel if I am not getting any benefit out of it?

I have a CNG vehicle - and the cost benefit was substantial for me to continue using and maintaining CNG earlier, but now the benefit is so low, I just prefer to use Petrol. At this point, CNG for me is just a boot space hoarder without any advantage.

Government really needs to provide some incentive for adoption and continued use of CNG - maybe in terms of CNG cost, fitment cost, or just allowing the vehicle to run for longer (NGT does not allow these 'green' CNG vehicles to ply after 15 years of ownership, no matter how well maintained).

[Herschey]

For cities with ample CNG infrastructure in place i.e. ample number of CNG filling stations, CNG still makes for a great fuel choice for a city beater car, a car not bought with outright performance and boot space in mind. The price difference between petrol and CNG has certainly come down in the last 2 years and the car prices have gone up significantly too; but that still somehow works in favour of CNG.

If we take an example of Hyundai Grand i10 NIOS Sports, a car which is decently kitted and available in both Petrol and CNG fuel types, the difference in the on-road Delhi car prices between the two fuel types is around 1.05 lac. Considering the petrol model gives a mileage of 15 per litre and the CNG model gives a mileage of around 21 per kg, both being run in city traffic conditions with the air-conditioner running 100% of the time, it would take around 35,500 kms to recover the additional cost of the CNG kitted model at current fuel prices. Even if CNG prices increase further and match that of petrol, the additional cost can still be recovered in approximately 54,500 kms.

This means that no matter what the price of CNG is today, if one is willing to sacrifice on performance and boot space, the additional cost of buying a CNG car can be recovered in well under 55k kilometers or initial 5 years.

However, the government certainly seems to be missing from all the action and hasn't provided any sort of incentives to promote such green fuel technologies. Fuel subsidies, vehicles with a proper fitness certificate being allowed to run beyond 15 years, subsidising CNG kits etc. are just some of the ways the government can play its due part.

[Rshrey22]

What is it with this provision that diesel cars can be swapped with CNG engines? How does this work? Will diesel cars then be able to ply beyond 10 years in metro cities? Who will do this CNG conversion on diesel cars?

I know trucks are now mainly running on CNG in Delhi NCR but will it be feasible for cars?

[deehunk]

The conversion of a diesel car to CNG is not feasible as it will not provide a dual fuel option unlike, LPG. However, it is possible to add an LPG kit and use LPG as an additive to diesel. This information was shared to me by a reputed LPG kit installer in Bangalore.

[techieaditya]

This will force companies to reduce the prices of their so called factory fitted cng models, which the dealers were selling without even a discount of 1 rupee, but the subsequent petrol models were offered with hefty discounts.

[Mustang_Boss]

Originally Posted by techieaditya

This will force companies to reduce the prices of their so called factory fitted cng models, which the dealers were selling without even a discount of 1 rupee, but the subsequent petrol models were offered with hefty discounts.

The problem is these alternate fuels produce more heat, which causes engine head damage.

Factory fitted cng cars have a different valve head to sustain the additional heat generated by CNG/LPG. Hence they are currently getting away with it.

Even if you install these kits in your Aluminium head cars, they are not going to survive long because of the above said reason. You need to properly handle the additional heat generated.

This is what i have learned after a lot of research. There could be things i might be missing, but retrofitting kits is not going to ensure a cheaper ownership.