The government has finally woken to the need for regulation of fuel efficiency in cars. The central government has entrusted the responsibility to Bureau of Energy Efficiency(BEE), under the power ministry. New fuel economy regulations are likely to be made mandatory by August. For the first time, in the Indian automotive history, passenger car manufacturers will be asked to state the fuel efficiency of their products. All cars will be rated as per the fuel economy levels. Standards will be set and new policies are likely to be made on fuel efficiency of the vehicles. Actually, the BEE idea is to provide benchmarks for all passenger cars on fuel economy. It will rate the cars which will help consumers have some standard based approach while deciding on purchase of their new cars. Even though car manufacturers agree to comply with the rule per se, they differ on the parameters for standards. Environmentalists are of the opinion that the fuel efficiency should be calculated on the kilometers driven per litre. But the automobile sector has requested the ministry of surface road transport to use carbon-di-oxide as the basis for deciding on the norms. They want technical parameters to measure pollution levels. This type of system is already in practice in the West, where carbon particles emitted per kilometer are measured to gauge fuel efficiency levels. Environmentalists counter it saying that parameters will make its difficult for Indian car buyers to understand the fuel efficiency levels of the intended car. They say that new parameters will make it obscure for the consumers to understand, car manufacturers could mislead car buyers. The guidelines for the norms are yet to be published. Some car manufacturers also publicize fuel efficiency of their petrol and diesel engines. Remember Maruti Suzuki Ritz and Honda Jazz which announced fuel efficiency on the launch date itself. Most small cars already comply with the Indian regulatory norms and will be happy to advertise their standards as per the new norms. When the Indian car mileage tags become mandatory, auto analysts expect that it will force car manufacturers to focus on increasing the mileage of their products. The new fuel economy standards will also discourage fuel guzzlers from rolling out on to the roads in future. The mileage standards will guarantee a consumer a fixed range of car run per kilometer of oil. It will be applicable on both petrol and diesel cars. All new cars in India will be tested under these BEE norms before they are released to the public. Car buyers will be made aware of the standard fuel economy in small cars, mid-size cars and SUVs when they are buying the product. Decision making will become easier with norms in place. Already fuel efficiency standards have been formulated in counties like United States, UK, Germany and Japan. Among the emerging economies, China has already made it mandatory for cars in that country. India will join the league soon.
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