Is BS-6 same for petrol and diesel vehicles?

The new BS-6 (Bharat Stage-6) regulation by the Indian Government is aimed to combat the ever-increasing air pollution in the country. This regulation will be applicable from April 1, 2020. The new BS-6 ready vehicles will release a significantly lower volume of harmful gases with the help of BS-6 grade fuel. Now the question that arises, is this applicable on petrol and diesel vehicles both or are their certain exceptions? The answer is yes, this norm is applicable to both diesel and petrol vehicles. One of the major changes that this new stage makes is the reduction of sulphur being used in the fuel as well as the sulfurous gases being released from the exhaust. Since these gases are pumped out from all vehicles, it will be applicable to all of them, diesel or petrol, two-wheelers or four.

The permitted emission of the sulfurous particles is now 10ppm (10 parts per million). This is in line with the Euro-6 emission that is the norm in European Union (EU). A reduced sulphur trace also means better performance for the engine, while still doing less harm to the environment. For both petrol and diesel i.e. gasoline-based fuels, the octane number for the BS-6 grade fuel is also going to increase. Octane number is a measure to calculate the efficiency of the fuel that is determined in a lab with various testing methods.

Next thing that is to be followed by both petrol and diesel vehicles is the OBD and RDE. This is the major benefit of this new regulation. OBD refers to onboard diagnostics. This means that a bunch of sensors that are loaded onto the BS-6 vehicles run a diagnostic on the exhaust fumes to make sure the emission levels stay within the prescribed limits. On the other hand, RDE is Real Driving Emission which is to be used on all vehicles, enabling real-time tracking and analysis of the emissions.