VLS Update Mike Bewsey, Chairman, VLS
The advent of a new standard setting body for lubricant specifications in 2020 raised some questions in the industry. As a not for profit organisation led by a number of far east manufacturers, the International Fluids Consortium (IFC) set out to globalise what had been up to that point the regionalisation of lubricant standards.
Europe led by ACEA, the European association of OEMs, the Americas by API/ILSAC and the Far East by a combination of American and regionalised standards such as JASO, the Japanese Automotive Standards Organisation.
With increasing use of global vehicle platforms, even shared amongst competing manufacturers, surely moving to lubricant standards that were applicable across all major markets made sense?
At the time of its establishment, the IFC must have had concerns over the speed of evolution of ultra-low lubricant standards by bodies such as ACEA, which have been spearheaded by Asian OEMs. With 0W-20, 0W-16 and now even 0W-8 prescribed by leading Far East manufacturers like Toyota, one of the founders of the IFC.
Although Western manufacturers do market lower viscosity lubricants in the European market such as 5W-20, 0W-30 or even 0W-20, many have begun to shift their research & development budgets towards electric and alternate fuel vehicles.
This switch of emphasis towards new technologies is one of the factors which delayed the launch of the latest set of ACEA light duty engine oil sequences due to the availability of engine tests. Whereas Asia still continues to invest significantly in new internal combustion engine technology in its path towards ever-lighter viscosity grades with improvements in engine performance and economy, as well as electrification and alternate fuels.
Perhaps there is something in this. Every analyst has 46 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.172 DECEMBER 2022
been heralding the passing of the internal combustion engine
but the numbers still tell us that they will be around well into the next decade, and perhaps even the one after that.
Already IFC have launched two specifications; GEO1 for non-Gasoline Particulate Filter-compatible vehicles and GEO2 for compatible ones, reflecting its move to publish lubricant standards that are applicable right around the world. Given the speed of development it is perhaps no surprise that these standards give more than a passing nod to both JASO and ILSAC standards, particularly GF-6B, being more of a consolidation of existing specifications than a totally new evolution.
Already the IFC boasts an impressive list of members, with some major additive companies joining some significant Far East manufacturers. Notable by their omission from membership up until now are the North American and European manufacturers, with one exception, even though the IFC has its operational address firmly rooted in North America. But these are early days.
Rather than their stated aim of bringing clarity to a fragmented lubricant standards market by introducing a set of globalised specifications, perhaps the danger is that the IFC achieve exactly the opposite. By overlaying a new set of globalised standards on top of existing regionalised standards, the risk is that end users and consumers already bewildered by multiple market and OEM specifications are actually more, and not less confused.
Only time will tell whether the IFC can achieve its aims given its relatively short lifespan. Meanwhile the evolution of the automotive sector and the end of the conventional internal combustion engine vehicles lies squarely on the horizon.
www.ukla-vls.org.uk
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