Ashok Leyland is BSVI ready
Ashok Leyland has announced that its range of CVs are BSVI ready.
Adding to the long list of innovations at Ashok Leyland is the readiness of its CVs to meet the BSVI emission norms. Highlighting its ability as well as a penchant to innovate and arrive at unique solutions by getting an in-line mechanical fuel pump driven injection system to meet BSIII emission by working in association with Bosch roughly a decade ago, Ashok Leyland has announced that it is the first Indian OEM to meet BSVI emission norms across its full range of Heavy-Duty Trucks (HDT 16.2-tonne GVW and above). Revealing iEGR (Intelligent Exhaust Gas Recirculation) technology in 2017 to meet BSIV emission norms for engines in the 130 hp and 400 hp range that did away with the need to deploy a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system, which would lead to an increase in operating costs, the CV major has invested Rs.600 to Rs.700 crore over the last four years to get its CVs to comply with BSVI emission regulations that are scheduled to come into force from April 2020. Stating that it has combined iEGR and in-line fuel pump technology to come out with a BSIV compliant ‘Innoline’ powertrain in the second half of 2018, the CV OEM has received BSVI certification from the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).
Heralding the arrival of a new modular platform, according to Dr.N Saravanan, CTO, Ashok Leyland, the BSVI emission norms compliant truck range will come with four engine options. Stating that heavy-duty trucks form a large chunk of volume, Dr. Saravanan said that the major challenge was the availability of fuel. Choosing heavy-duty trucks since they form a major chunk of the volume at Ashok Leyland, the move to BSVI has been achieved through a combination of EGR and SCR. Not revealing if the use of EGR tech will be on engines up to certain hp and the use of EGR and SCR tech will be in engines up to a certain hp, Saravanan averred that they would be seeding their products at the earliest. “Once the issue of fuel availability is resolved, we would be seeding the products,” he informed. Said to be drawing plans to boost its Light Commercial Vehicle business with the launch of new products, Ashok Leyland is looking at how BSVI fuel will be made available for the entire route. Claimed to have earmarked Rs.1,000 crore as capital expenditure for FY2019-20 and a similar amount for FY2020-21, the CV major, according to Dr. Saravanan has spoken to a few oil companies. Analysing the possibilities, it is looking at smaller pockets like the DelhiRajasthan belt among others.
Facing a big challenge of fuel availability for testing and
validation, Ashok Leyland faced many challenges in successfully integrating the various components that make the technology. Explaining that the quality of air coming out of the tailpipe is probably cleaner than what goes in, Dr. Saravanan expressed that integrating the technology available in bits and pieces led to an amount of investment of resources. “This is all between the manufacturer,” he quipped. Elaborating that it is about the coating guys; about the person who puts it in a box; about the person who has the control system, and the person who does the engine tuning, Dr. Saravanan said, “The biggest challenge was to bring them all together. To integrate to achieve the desired architectural quality and reliability.” Confident of the modular nature of the new BSVI platform (powered by four engine options) providing it an edge over the competition, Ashok Leyland is keen to offer customers multiple choices. It is looking at empowering customers to go and configure CVs as per their requirements. Keen to get this to work by mixing and matching the aggregates to deliver the required performance, Ashok Leyland will offer cabins of BSVI trucks with some modifications to accommodate the cooling systems. Working closely with Albonair India (Albonair specialises in SCR systems, and is a Hinduja Group company) to maximise the AdBlue consumption and to get the fluid economy right, the CV major will soon be sending its LCVs and ICVs for BSVI certification.
Service and training
Given the changes realised by BSVI technology, Ashok Leyland has invested in beefing up its service network. It has also invested in upskilling the technicians. Mentioned Dr. Saravanan, “We are not only looking at the products but also at how we service the vehicles.” “There is an entire team to address these needs in terms of infrastructure at the dealerships and touchpoints. There is an entire team to address the upskilling requirements in terms of service. We have a large team of service engineers, transport engineers. They are part of the vehicle fleet running; of vehicle diagnostics,” he explained. Looking at telematics, Ashok Leyland is keen to leverage the same for the betterment of the vehicle. Through telematics, the company is looking at providing it’s fleet operators a significant value addition in terms of uptime and maintenance.
Drawing attention to the need to train the drivers as well, Dr. Saravanan mentioned that driving a BSVI vehicle will be different from driving a BSIV or a BSIII vehicle. To ensure that the drivers are familiar with the changes the BSVI technology entails, Ashok Leyland is looking at opportunities to train the drivers.
Operating six-driver training institutes at Namakkal (Tamil Nadu), Burari (NCR), Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), Kaithal (Haryana), Bhubaneswar (Orissa) and Railmagra (Rajasthan) respectively, the company is also looking at providing the drivers an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the new technologies – those that make good use of electronics, such that they are able to make the most of it. Drawing attention to the use of various sensors (pressure sensor, temperature sensor, exhaust sensors, etc.) by BSVI technology, Dr. Saravanan said that electronics do amount to a challenge. An interesting part of the use of higher electronics in BSVI system is a separate data analytics team at Ashok Leyland. It is analysing the data generated by the use of remote sensing technologies under the aegis of telematics. Said Dr. Saravanan, “There will be a lot of data with the telematics and there is a separate data analytics team. They are working on these for the past three years and have a huge experience. So, we have a big data analytics team in place and we have made use of this to bring the best in terms of service.”
Supplier base and exports
The long term suppliers of BSIV components for Ashok Leyland will continue to supply components to BSVI emission compliant vehicles too. The company closely worked with the suppliers to help them to supply BSVI aggregates and components. It also handheld them to tackle the challenge of financial crunch if it were an issue. For BSVI tech, the company engaged with new technology partners for the supply of components like sensors. On the issue of hand holding the suppliers, Dr. Saravanan mentioned, “It is a standard process at Ashok Leyland.” “Most of our suppliers are supplying worldwide. They have the best practices and training therefore,” he said. The need, stated Dr. Saravanan, is to train those at the front end; to train those that are handling sales and service among others.
If the move to BSVI will aid Ashok Leyland to explore new markets, Dr. Saravanan mentioned that most export markets of the company are not BSVI compliant. Market like Russia and Ukraine are still running on EuroV, he informed. The Middle Eastern countries are still EuroIV. It would serve that markets like these move to EuroVI. Once they do, Ashok Leyland could look at exporting its BSVI vehicles to the respective markets. Back home, and the company is keen to see the CV segment pick up pace. Terming the current slowdown as a cyclical phenomenon witnessed every three to four years, Dr. Saravanan said that sometimes it is worse and sometimes it is not as bad. “Ultimately, goods need to be moved and people need to move. BSVI is here to stay and (sales) will pick up,” he concluded.