Ashok Leyland rolls out 100,000th BS IV vehicle

Ashok Leyland recently sold 100,000 units of BS IV vehicles that were based on its own iEGR technology. The company claims that instead of opting for Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), it went for iEGR (intelligent Exhaust Gas Recirculation) to make their vehicles BS IV compliant. This technology from Ashok Leyland was developed specifically for emerging markets like India.

With SCR being a globally accepted technology among most of the major M&HCV players, Ashok Leyland claims to have struggled a lot to popularise their own in-house technology among the masses. As per the company brochures, iEGR combines the best of CRS (Common Rail System) and EGR and uses improved in-cylinder combustion management for reduced injection pressure. Thus, leading to better engine life, superior performance from engines with up to 400hp of power and successfully meet the BS IV emission norms.

It further claims that efficient exhaust and combustion system result in 10 percent better fuel efficiency compared to BS III engines in some applications. As iEGR needs no AdBlue for emission control like in SCR systems, there is no loss of payload and thus leads to improved cost-savings. As there are no additional sensors or complex electronics it shares a lot of common parts with BS III engines.

According to Ashok Leyland, iEGR is not only better suited to Indian conditions than SCR technology (based on European technology) but also proves to be hugely cost effective, easy to operate and hassle-free to maintain, thereby resulting in an improved total cost of ownership and better margins as compared to SCR tech-based vehicles.

Announcing the company’s success with iEGR technology at the annual press conference, Vinod Dasari, managing director, and CEO, Ashok Leyland said, “We were the first company in the world to offer trucks with iEGR technology to meet BS IV standards. We have sold more than 100,000 units of simple and easy to maintain BS IV compliant iEGR-based M&HCVs. Clearly, our products are well accepted by our customers and we continue to perform well in the domestic market.”

He further revealed, “There are five companies in the world which make SCR technology and we happen to own one of them. It is not a question of not knowing the technology. In fact, we were first to introduce BS IV truck with SCR technology in the country. We knew how to do it, but we were trying to make it more suitable for our customers.”

The technology proved to be a huge success for Ashok Leyland as it sold 101,905 M&HCVs and 43,441 LCVs in FY2018.

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