India has plans to label tyres based on their fuel efficiency and rolling resistance. Fuel efficiency labelling is an effort put forth by the government to help consumers choose a tyre from a whole variety of tyre models that are available in the market.
A government panel comprising of officials from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), ministry of road transport and highways and automobile testing agencies have taken up the initiative to evaluate and understand the practicality of the fuel efficiency labelling system.
A government official stated that, “It is a work in progress at the moment. If labelling has to start for a huge range and capacity of tyres, we need to identify common parameters that will be tested to assign a particular label. In this case, it is wet grip and rolling resistance.
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However, it is a tough task presented before the Government of India since there are challenges to this initiative one of which being the lack of testing facilities which is crucial for initiating proper labelling of tyres.
“The question is whether there are testing facilities or not as it is important to have a system in place. As far as wet grip is concerned—crucial for the entire process of tyre labelling—this facility is available only with ICAT Manesar but it is not for public use at the moment. Even in Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), it is still in process,"
Rameesh Kailasam, chief executive of think tank India Tech stated that, “Fuel efficiency of a vehicle is dependent on factors like engine efficiency, transmission design, aerodynamic drag, weight, components, type of fuel, driving technique, AC usage, terrain, road condition, turns, wind, maintenance etc. We also do not have testing facilities for rolling resistance combined with wet grip nor are the road ambient conditions like the ones seen in Europe."
He added that,"India has 41 tyre companies and 62 plants producing the largest variety of tyres in the world including bias and radial tyres. India’s defence, agriculture, mining and 70% truckers use bias technology as it suits them most. Even if the government goes ahead with labelling there should be separate standards for bias and radial as these are 2 different technologies with different utilities."
