Kohler Engines zeroes in on the CV industry

Kohler Engines, part of the $ 5 billion US-based Kohler Company, has a two-pronged strategy for India. Firstly, to offer upgraded Bharat Stage IV emission-compliant engines with higher torque, power and fuel efficiency for light commercial vehicles (LCVs). Secondly, it plans to introduce a new crop of heavy duty diesel engines for on- highway and off-highway applications spanning agricultural tractors, construction equipment (backhoe loaders, cranes, road rollers), and heavy commercial vehicles from 3.5 to 8.0-tonne GVW during the next two years. These engines will have both versions of mechanical and electronic injection and will meet Euro 5 emission norms for highway applications and Tier-IV Final for off-highway applications.

The heavy duty engines that are currently being tested in Italy will be launched in Europe and North America this March and will be later brought to India. While the basic design of these engines has been developed in Italy, they will be tweaked at Kohler’s design centre in Pune and applicated for local vehicles in India.

Talks with prospective customers are underway to gauge the response. The design centre employs 50 engineers and designers with 30 members being part of the application engineering team at Aurangabad.

On Kohler’s client radar are tractor OEMs like Sonalika, Tafe and New Holland among others. The company’s heavy duty three- and four-cylinder air-cooled and water-cooled diesel engines will range from 1.9 to 2.5 litres. While the current crop of BS-IV equivalent engines necessitate aftertreatment like selective catalytic reduction (SCR) or diesel particulate filter (DPF) processes at the exhaust side, Prakash Bhalekar, managing director of Lombardini India, says that the company’s engines will not require this treatment, as this process will be undertaken during combustion. “We have a very special technology that helps us achieve it while removing NOx and particulate matter without aftertreatment.”

Kohler, which bought out Lombardini, the Italian diesel engine manufacturer, specialises in small diesel engines of upto 50 KW but has plans to extend this range to 80 KW in the next couple of years. In India it is targeting upgradation of its one-, two- and three-cylinder engines for small commercial vehicles of 0.5 tonne to 1.0-tonne payload capacity. While its one-cylinder engines are air-cooled, the two- and three-cylinder engines are water-cooled.

In compliance with the new BS-IV emission norms, Kohler is upgrading its existing range of BS-III engines for LCVs and according to Sudipto Mukherjee, GM – marketing of Lombardini India, the company has adopted a cost-effective, robust and reliable solution for manufacturers. A technology that leverages a better injection system along with an exhaust gas recirculation system has been used to ensure improved combustion, minimising aftertreatment while still meeting stringent emission norms in these smaller engines.

New BS IV-compliant KD 441 introduced

Kohler will be the sole engine maker to offer the single-cylinder, air-cooled BS-IV-capable KD 441 engine with 9.2 hp and a fuel efficiency of over 27 kilometres per litre in the world, he says. This engine was displayed at last month's Auto Expo.

At present, Kohler’s BS-III air-cooled engines with a single cylinder are supplied to upto 1.2-tonne GVW commercial vehicles, both three- and four-wheelers. They include the Mahindra Gio and the Piaggio Ape Mini. The new engine for three-wheelers is being tested. It is believed that two new three-wheelers, to be launched this year in India, will be fitted with it and will be made available with BS-III or BS-IV options.

The BS-IV engine on a three-wheeler is expected to return a mileage of 38 to 40kpl. Bhalekar says that all the vehicles that will use Kohler engines will save the country about 150 million litres of diesel annually with their fuel efficiency. Kohler has on offer one engine with petrol, CNG and LPG applications in three- and four-wheelers of upto 0.5 tonne payload capacity (upto 1.2 tonne GVW) which powers Piaggio’s Ape City three- wheeler.

Trials for the new BS-IV single-cylinder engine are underway with vehicular trials slated to commence soon. The company also has a KDW 702 two-cylinder 686cc water-cooled 12.5 kW engine. A common-rail version will provide 15.0 kW power and meet BS-IV emission norms. The three-cylinder KDW 1003, 1028cc water-cooled 20.0kW engine will have a common-rail version providing 22.0 kW and meeting BS-IV standards. The same engine can be manufactured with vertical or tilted options for appropriate packaging. By adding a turbocharger to the engines, the power and torque can be enhanced so that vehicles with 1.5-tonne payload capacity (upto 2.5 tonne GVW) as well as small entry level diesel cars can be powered. These can be made available in BS-III or BS-IV options. Also, these engines are used for off-highway applications like gensets, light towers, mini-tractors, and mini- dumpers. “We expect the launch of one new vehicle and four to five off-highway applications in 2012 with these engines,” remarks Mukherjee.

While the base engines are developed in Italy, they are further upgraded for performance in terms of better noise, emissions and mileage at Kohler’s design centre in Pune.

Piaggio uses diesel Greaves engines for three-wheelers that were earlier designed on the Lombardini design with whom it had a joint venture but now makes them in-house. Bhalekar maintains that local manufacturers do not possess the range of Kohler and even Mahindra has 900cc and above engines, none below that cubic capacity.

Considering that India is going the hub-and-spoke way, necessitating the use of multiple LCVs to take the load off one big commercial vehicle, this phenomenon is expected to drive the growth of the LCV market further.

Potential for capacity expansion

At present, Kohler has a production unit at Aurangabad where it produces an annual 35,000 to 40,000 engines, ranging between one and three cylinders. The current production capacity of 70,000 units per annum is expected to be fully utilised within two years as the country inches towards complete enforcement of BS-IV norms. A separate assembly line is envisaged for the new crop of heavy duty cast iron engines planned for India.

At present, Kohler exports three-cylinder engines for generators and the possibility of exporting two-cylinder engines is also being worked out. A brownfield expansion with additional capacity of 100,000 units per annum is expected for manufacturing heavy duty engines. The localisation level is over 90 percent and a similar indigenisation level is targeted for the heavy duty engines that will require an investment of around $ 10 million for the new production lines, funded through internal accruals.

SHOBHA MATHUR