Volvo Penta offers a complete range of engines from 105 kW to 565 kW. Miron Thoms, Vice President and Head, Volvo Penta India shares more on the upcoming market trends in diesel engines.

What is the current market trend for diesel engines in India?
We foresee a very strong growth, especially in the all-speed engine segment. At the same time, the trend for diesel engines with advance technology to meet the stringent emission regulations will prosper. With more complex technology getting to the market due to emission regulations, customers expect more benefits and features from the engine manufacturers. A cleaner environment will be seen as a standard. Therefore, total cost of ownership (TCO) is getting more and more important and where Volvo Penta's strength is already known in the market today.

How do you see the demand trend for diesel engines from construction equipment? The construction equipment segment is continuously growing in India, especially if we are looking only at the last five years. As the infrastructure and the urbanisation in India are rapidly growing, this trend will be persistent.

What are the new products and solutions from Volvo Penta for off-highway equipment?
Today as well as tomorrow, Volvo Penta offers a complete range from 105 kW to 565 kW. The 5 l and 8 l engines are made in India whereas the 11 l, 13 l and 16 l engines are made in Europe. We see a strong development and raising demand on the engines locally made. Today, our range is already ready for both BS CEV IV and V, following a modular driveline concept to keep it simple for our OEM customer and the end-users.

What are the features and technologies off-highway equipment customers looking for?
It is well known across industry that the customer requirement is machines with high productivity, high reliability, minimised downtime and lowest total cost of ownership as well as operations.

The engine is only a small part of the equipment and equipment customers do not want to worry about the operations: Turnkey solution is the preferred engine, especially with more complex technology coming to the market at the end of next year when BS CEV IV will be implemented.

Volvo Penta engines share a number of high-technology design features like compact design and high power to weight ratio, electronically controlled engine management system, waste-gate turbocharger for increased block load acceptance as well as excellent performance with peak torque at low engine speed. The top USPs for our engines are excellent reliability due to our high quality standards and less down time due to longer service intervals in combination with excellent fuel efficiency.

Also when it comes to October 2020 and the new after-treatment components will be introduced, Volvo Penta will stand by its values, features and benefits.

Compact equipment OEMs are looking for electric power an alternative for diesel power to reduce carbon emission. While globally this has started, how do you see the trend in Indian market?
The smallest engine Volvo is offering to external customers is the Volvo Penta D5 engine. Globally as well as locally we do not see short-term an electrical replacement for that range.

Nevertheless, today we are already working on not only electric drivelines and electromobility but also work with automation and connectivity. When it comes to India, we are listening to our customers and the market, and offer the right solution at the right time.

How do the design and other features change in order to meet the next level of emission regulations? How are you prepared to meet the new requirements?
Volvo Penta has developed an after-treatment solution based on customer, operators and end-customer needs. The result is the Volvo Penta SCR after-treatment solution with a light EGR. Fuel efficiency and simple operations as well as easy installation are key features.

The system is engineered so that the OEM is able to design a modular drive line. This allows the OEM to have one engine room design for all emission regulations from BS CEV II, III, IV and for 2025 V.

Our customers take the new emission regulation serious and already working on a smooth transition from BS CEV III to IV for their customers. This means Volvo Penta is ready to support their customers today and tomorrow.

Especially, our current customer base has an easy shift to the new engine generation as we have managed to keep the engine footprint across the range identical and "only" replaced the silencer with our new SCR-silencer combination that will remain maintenance-free.

What are the major challenges you face in meeting the emission requirements?
For the Indian market, the current emission legislations applicable for off-road vehicles are BS (CEV) III from 2014, covering limited applications. Now, as announced by regulatory authorities, BS (CEV/Trem) IV will be enforced from October 2020 and will cover most of the off-road applications, including some of today's non-regulated applications.

With the introduction of BS (CEV/Trem) IV, all engine manufacturers are required to introduce after-treatment systems for engines between 129 kW to 560 kW. This, in turn, will put enormous demands on OEMs, forcing them to re-design their machines to install new engines and after-treatment systems. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology was first developed by Volvo Group in 2006. In 2011, Volvo Penta introduced the system for industrial off-road customers, further developing it in 2014. Today, Volvo Penta continues to meet tomorrow's environmental demands, as the same technology will now be used to comply with the stringent BS (CEV/Trem) IV emission regulations, effective October 2020.

We have been supplying BS (CEV/Trem) IV equivalent Stage IV/Tier4 Final engines globally since 2014 and have more than 200 OEM customers. From what we are speaking to them, it's clear that our OEMs and operators are extremely pleased with competitive advantages of these engines in terms of no re-generation and especially easy installation, as well as low operating costs.

How do you see new opportunities in these challenging situations for your products?
We are increasing our competitiveness with stricter emission regulations that are inline with one of our core values: environmental care.

Volvo Penta has similar engine footprints for all emission standards. As a result, the OEMs already using Volvo Penta BS (CEV) III engines will have no trouble changing to a BS (CEV/Trem) IV model, as the SCR catalyst will simply just replace the current silencer. It will also allow for lesser regulated export markets to be served without the need of engine room redesign, and can be considered future-proof against the inevitable BS (CEV/Trem) V regulations.

Also with BS CEV IV regulations coming into effect from October 2020 and all engine suppliers moving to electronic engines with after-treatment system, we will see more of opportunities.

What is the way forward for diesel engines in the off-highway market?
Electromobility will come for sure in the off-highway market, the only question is when. But until then, the diesel engine in our power range will play a vital role in India to power the nation. For a cleaner India and its environment, the right steps are taken and emission regulations are getting quickly implemented. We support this ambitious time plan with our products and product plan, especially environmental care as one of our core values.

Also, efficiency will continue to play a major role in the future as well as power-to-weight ratio. Both have a positive effect on fuel consumption and therefore on the environment as well.

We have done our homework and support the needs of India: a cleaner environment, sustainable usage of available resources as well as offering benefits and features that our customer base is asking for. Therefore, we see a strong growth for Volvo Penta India within the off-highway engine segment in the coming years.