[Tushar]

While four-wheelers have come under the scanner for the amount of pollution and congestion they cause, motorcycles and scooters account for the majority of automotive sales in India. To put it into perspective, of the 1.97 crore vehicles sold in India in 2014-15, two-wheelers accounted for 1.6 crore sales. In order to reduce the environmental impact of scooters / motorcycles, the government is set to announce more stringent emission standards for two-wheelers.

The Government of India has already stated the April 1, 2020 deadline for cars to adopt the BS-VI emission norms. Sources say the government is now likely to specify that BS-VI standards will apply to two-wheelers as well with an announcement on the new standards expected later this week. The move will be a major part of government efforts to reduce vehicular emissions, considering the collective impact that two-wheelers have on the environment.

According to government norms, the NOx emission limit for a BS-IV petrol car is 0.08 gram per kilometre, but for a two-wheeler, it is 0.39 gram per kilometre. BS-IV norms for two-wheelers have been set and will be effective from April 2016 for newly introduced models and April 2017 for existing models. With the BS-VI norms, the government will be looking to get emissions down across the automotive spectrum.



Source: ET Auto

*Image for representation only.

[alpha1]

Gee whiz, what about the already existing swarm of poorly maintained polluting 2-wheelers?

[farhadtarapore]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Gee whiz, what about the already existing swarm of poorly maintained polluting 2-wheelers?

Exactly. And like everything else in our country, how will they enforce this? I have NEVER had anyone check my PUC in the 15 years I've owned a car or a bike.
As it is the traffic police are under-staffed. They aren't even able to enforce the regular traffic rules; and now emission norms will be added to the fray.

Is there no one in our government who thinks that reforms are needed at a more grassroots level? As in, improving our police force's living and working conditions and empowering them to punish offenders who break the law.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by farhadtarapore

... and empowering them to punish offenders who break the law.

Gosh no!
As it is the cause of corruption in Police is the amount of unbridled discretionary power they hold.

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by Tushar

To put it into perspective, of the 1.97 crore vehicles sold in India in 2014-15, two-wheelers accounted for 1.6 crore sales.

According to government norms, the NOx emission limit for a BS-IV petrol car is 0.08 gram per kilometre, but for a two-wheeler, it is 0.39 gram per kilometre.

Ghosh. I was always of the impression that the two wheelers cause lesser pollution per km, mainly because of
A - smaller engines
B - Lesser fuel consumed per kilometer
C - Lesser oil comsumed

But this bit of data is quite surprising to me.
Two wheelers consumption of fuel is 1/4 that of the four wheelers, at least. And that too Petrol which is considered much cleaner than Diesel.

The emission limit may have been set to 0.39 grams (higher than those for cars), but how much do they actually produce might be interesting. My guess is, it will be lesser than the cars, for the reasons mentioned above.