Daewoo Motors India Ltd introduces CNG - Capable Cielo

Continuing on eforts to continuously upgrade its vehicles and responding to the urgent need for creating benchmarks in environment pollution, the R & D wing of Daewoo Motors India Ltd has completed the task of making CNG-capable Cielos. The road worthiness tests of the CNG-fed engine on Cielo was completed recently and encouraged by the astounding results DMIL has decided to introduce its CNG-run Cielo in the commercial market to start with. The car will also be available to customers for private use.
The test results have shown that the CNG mode running cost of Cielo is only 30% of the petrol mode running cost. Based on the cross country ride test result of Cielo run on petrol where the average came to 12.5 kms/litre, the CNG running cost has come to 22.8 kms/litre. When calculated at the rate of Delhi price the running cost of petrol came top Rs. 1.92/km as against the CNG cost of Rs. 0.49/km. Therefore the fuel economy in the Indian drive cycle has been phenomenal.
Since the idea behind the use of CNG is two-fold -- achieve multiple environment benefits as well as search for an alternate fuel to bring down the running cost -- the steps taken by Daewoo in this direction will go a long way in the success of the green revolution so passionately pursued by this Korean auto giant and vigorously implemented by the regulatory authorities in the country.The emission result obtained from the CNG-run Cielo is abysmally low against the specified figure under the Euro II norm. While the CO content is 63% low the NMHC + Nox content is 44% less than the pescribed limits.

Daewoo has been able to achieve pollution and fuel efficiency through a specially designed advanced computer chip in the CNG-fed Cielo engine. Also, because of the MPFi technology the performance of CNG mode Cielo remains better than other passenger cars. The overall engine performance improves because of the high octane rating of CNG when compared withpetrol and thus no change in acceleration is felt. Added to this is the sensitive stepper motor technology that responds to all time demands of the engine.
The Cielo boot capacity for the CNG tank makes a lot of meaning. Because of the largest trunk capacity, 530 litres, the Cielo can easily accommodate a CNG tank of 70-90 litres capacity while the other mid-size cars hold upto a maximum of 60 litres tank. This effectively translate into longer distance travel in the Cielo. With a 14 kg CNG tank, a Cielo can travel as long as 319 kms. In fact, natural gas can be compressed to about 3000 pounds per square inch. At this pressure very large volumes of gas can be placed in a relatively small cylinder to power the car.
The CNG is not only economical on fuel cost (it costs one-third less than petrol) but is much safer than petrol. Because it is lighter than air, it quickly dissipates into the atmosphere rather than forming hazardous pools as liquid fuels do in the event of a leak. Further, CNG ignites at a much higher temperature making inadvertent ignition less likely. Besides, CNG arrangement is theft proof. It cannot be siphoned off.
CNG mode car is easy to maintain. Because CNG is a mixture of hydrocarbons in gaseous form, it burns cleanly and hence the spark plugs and lubricants require very few replacements. Engine tune-ups too are not needed as often. Lastly, engine burning lasts 2-3 times longer than those burning petrol. This results in significant reduction of engine noise levels as well as the NVH thereby offering the most comfortable drive.

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Veeresh Malik and Shailesh Khanolkar at the show
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