How green is your car? Soon, it will get a mileage rating

Energy bureau to give star ratings to cars as per fuel efficiency, five stars for over 25.6 km per litre

Your new set of wheels is going to get its stars.

In a first of its kind venture, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency BEE is embarking on a fuel efficiency labelling programme, in which cars will be assigned star-rating according to fuel efficiency.

A voluntary start will be made this year. A similar programme of star-ratings is currently on for marking energy saving efficiency in electrical goods like refrigerators.

Working under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, the BEE, a statutory body under the Power Ministry, along with the Petroleum Conservation Research Association studied trends driving fuel economy programmes globally. Working with nine weight categories for four-wheel passenger vehicles, the stars will be awarded depending on fuel economy values, obtained by standardised tests conducted for emissions testing.

While a five-star will mean fuel economy more than 25.6 kilometres per litre, a one-star will mean fuel economy above 10 kilometres per litre.

The BEE estimates that three-fourth of the vehicle model variants will receive a three- or four-star rating. Its study also anticipates that the combination of fuel economy standards will provide a 8220;necessary impetus8221; for development of five-star rated vehicles. The BEE also estimates that fuel economy compliant with labelling programme will result in as much as 20 per cent reduction in oil use in 20308212;saving around 10 million tones of oil.

As a start, the labelling programme will be implemented on a voluntary basis in 2008, and the BEE will make it mandatory for all new cars subsequently. A set of fuel economy standards will be phased in from 2010 to 2012.

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Till now, customers only had 8216;mileage8217; and word-of-mouth reviews in order to choose their car purchase. Bharat I and II emission norms too were mainly concerns for the manufacturer. The star labelling system is likely to help the customer make an informed choice not only regarding pollution, but also better value for money.

For non-petrol vehicles which use diesel, LPG or CNG, values will be converted to petrol equivalent fuel consumption per litre. For vehicles which have dual use, each fuel consumption will be calculated separately and the lower fuel consumption value will be used for the label.

The BEE is currently working on a mechanism to ensure compliance to the labelling system.

Counting the stars

Each label will have stars, the vehicle model, brand, model year, vehicle class/ weight, engine size, transmission and type of fuel

One: more than 10 kmpl

Two: 10.1- 12.5 kmpl

Three: 12.6-16.8 kmpl

Four: 16.9- 25.5 kmpl

Five: more than 25.6 kmpl