Effect of Ageing on Emission Levels of a Gasoline Vehicle: A Case Study in Indian Context

Abstract

This paper discusses the observations of a study conducted for analysis of emission levels of vehicles manufactured over different years, to ascertain the effect of ageing of vehicle on its emission levels. For this study, Maruti Wagon R was selected as representative sample of Indian four wheeler passenger car market because of its share of approximately 12% of the total passenger vehicle sold in the year 2017. In total, 520 samples were collected during the period of study during year 2018 which included both, gasoline and CNG, driven vehicles. Out of the various regulated vehicle emission components of gasoline IC engines in BS-IV norms, carbon monoxide CO emission values of the vehicles were measured as per the standards notified by Government of India. CO emission values were recorded from vehicles manufactured between years 2004 and 2018. The data was grouped into BS-III and BS-IV vehicles, which was further segregated on the basis of their age, i.e. 0–4 years (manufacturing years 2015–18), 5–9 years (years 2010–14) and 10 years or more (year 2004–9). Within these sub-groups, the CO emission levels thus recorded in this study show a normal distribution with 88% of the samples falling between CO levels of 0.0 and 0.149, well within the maximum limit of 0.3% v/v as per BS-IV norms. Another finding of the study of collected data shows improvement in emission levels of vehicles from year 2001 model to year 2018 models. Also the measured values of CO emission of gasoline vehicle, Wagon R, showed that emissions were well within the emission norms even after vehicle being in use for 10 or more years. Findings in this study imply that due to improvement in engine technology and fuel, the emission levels of modern vehicles remain well within the stipulated emission norms, possibly during full lifecycle of the vehicle. Based on these findings in this study which were conducted with warm engine idling condition, it is recommended that more such studies be undertaken to ascertain variance in CO emission levels of vehicles during real driving conditions due to externalities such as terrain, traffic, ambient temperature, driving habits, etc.