Shift towards environment-friendly mobility solutions

The global automotive industry is preparing to meet the requirements of the latest emissions standards such as Bharat Stage (BS) VI in India. In this article, Sudhir Kumar Chawla gives an exclusive insight into high-potential clean air technologies for more environmentally friendly mobility.

Due to its increasing environmental awareness and its ambitious policies regarding emissions and electrification, India is a very interesting market for the automotive industry. The introduction of BS VI emissions standards is certainly the greatest challenge for our business in India, but it is also a great opportunity.

Background: legislation for future mobility

First of all, let us have a look at the topic in a much broader context. India is one of the fastest growing economies and this should create additional business opportunities for both vehicle manufacturers and automotive suppliers. The local demand for clean and efficient vehicles is steadily increasing. India has even outperformed the German automotive market in terms of volume and now ranks among the top five automotive markets in the world.

Current major trends and government initiatives support environment friendly and low-emission mobility in our country. Next, the Indian government has a very strong commitment to supporting electrification and the growth of the electric vehicle market – which is why they have set the ambitious goal of 30 per cent vehicle to be sold in India as electric vehicles. However, the mobility of tomorrow such as electrified vehicles, autonomous driving and mega trends like car-sharing, all will still require a reliable propulsion system in order to get from point A to B. Automotive suppliers are already offering technologies allowing OEMs to efficiently meet future challenges and support them with solutions for all propulsion systems.

When it comes to solutions suitable for meeting the new BS VI standards, BorgWarner in India can draw on the extensive experience and expertise they developed while working with other developed market emissions regulations – for example Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards or the latest emissions regulations in Europe.

Think globally, act locally

India is more than just about topographical and climatic diversity. Due to its national economy, its demography and its comparatively high growth, the country is expected to be one of the most important future markets besides China in the years to come. One of the most important factors propelling it forwards this is the domestic demand. For this reason, most international automotive companies already have production facilities in India which allow them to support their customers with locally produced solutions. In our opinion, however, keeping cost under control will play a major role here, as BS6 vehicles complying with BS VI standards will only come at a price. This will likely bring about increased challenges on localisation and changes in the use of materials. BorgWarner continues to focus on localisation and developing local supplier base to keep the cost under checks and give our customer best deals.

Trend towards turbocharging

In general, it is important to identify which technologies are suitable for the Indian automotive market of today and tomorrow. From our point of view, highly efficient turbocharging will be a major key to meeting BS VI standards, as this is a crucial aspect of high-performance hybridisation and downsizing concepts. In other words, the need for highly developed turbochargers will continue to grow. For this reason, we expect technologies like variable turbine geometry (VTG) turbochargers to be widely adopted. These improve fuel efficiency as well as boosting response, while optimisations of design and material allow them to function reliably under challenging conditions and withstand high thermal loads.

Modular solutions in EVs

In addition to individual technologies, automotive suppliers give vehicle manufacturers the opportunity to integrate either individual components or a complete electric mobility solution into their vehicles. One example is the production of fully integrated drive modules featuring advanced electric motor and transmission technologies as well as specially developed power electronics in a single module, for simple installation and reduced cost, size and weight.

Furthermore, powerful module solutions for P2 hybrid vehicle systems enable the engine and the transmission to be decoupled to allow the switch from combustion mode to pure electric driving. This feature makes it easier for vehicle manufacturers to adapt their product portfolios to changing market requirements. P2 modules also allow several other hybrid features such as regenerative breaking and stop/start. The cost-effective solution reduces CO2 emissions significantly and is easy to integrate into existing drivetrains.

The challenge of thermal management

In addition to the innovations described, heating devices are a widely discussed topic when we talk about electrification. Thermal management solutions of modern hybrid and electric vehicles must be able to work both temporarily and permanently without the combustion engine and its systematic use of waste heat. With the development of efficient high-voltage heating solutions, automotive suppliers are precisely meeting these challenges. Highly efficient heater technologies provide maximum driver comfort and performance. Suitable for a wide range of applications and voltages, their rapid reaction times allow optimum temperature management for the battery as well as the vehicle interior.

Exhaust gas potential

Increasing vehicle population will continue to push OEMs to work on minimising emissions and improving efficiencies. This means that several advanced technologies such as exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems will play a major role in meeting the upcoming BS VI emissions standards and CO2 norms in diesel and gasoline engines respectively in the coming years.

Outlook

As we can see, the automotive industry is well prepared regarding future developments in the market. Vehicle manufacturers as well as automotive suppliers are prepared to keep on optimising their product portfolios and technologies while aiming to deliver highly efficient and clean solutions at all times, thus protecting the environment and improving the world we live in. The newly adopted BS VI standards in India are part of a highly promising development and represent a huge step towards cleaner next-generation technologies. We are confident that we can make a significant contribution to the drive towards more modern and environmentally friendly mobility throughout the whole country.

Sudhir Kumar Chawla is currently the Managing Director of BorgWarner Emissions and Thermal Systems India. He heads all 3 ETS plants in India: the emissions plants at Manesar & Talegaon and the thermal plant in Chennai. Before joining BorgWarner, Sudhir served for 7 years as Director of Carraro India Pvt Ltd and for 4 years as Senior Division Manager at Hindustan Motors Ltd. All in all, Sudhir has had 33 years of experience in the automotive industry in India and other countries. Sudhir holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi.