Car emission control: No hot pursuit

Relaxation in CAFE III for small cars would be a step in the right direction, because it would catalyse industry to think more as engineers

- BVR SUBBU

THE CORPORATE AVERAGE Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) norms deal with overall fuel consumption, specifically the quantity of fuel consumed which is generally considered proportional to the fuel efficiency and weight of the car. Clearly, the government—considering the overriding national priority of controlling the growth in imported petroleum, oil, and lubricants consumption—is committed to cut fuel consumption and control overall CO2 emissions.

The CAFE target of each manufacturer is calculated by first deriving the average kerb weight of models for individual manufacturers. Then by scaling the industry average target to the weighted average kerb weight the manufacturer-specific CO2 target is derived. And finally, it mandates that the achieved CAFE of the manufacturer for each year is based on the weighted average of the cars sold across their fleet, and the CO2 emissions of each model have to be lower than or equal to the manufacturer-specific target to achieve compliance with CAFE II norms.