Commercial vehicle weight concept

Q. What is unladen weight (ULW) ?

A. ULW stands for unladen weight. It is the weight of a vehicle when it's not carrying any passenger, goods, or any other item. ULW is inclusive of chassis weight, cabin weight & load body/trailer weight, it also includes weight of 90% capacity of the tank filled with diesel & all the consumables like engine oil, gear oil, etc. at the top-up level. It also includes the weight of the crew members. ULW is also known as kerb weight.

Q. How to find the unladen weight (ULW) ?

A. Mathematically, ULW = GVW- Payload

Q. What is the importance of unladen weight ?

A. Following are the importance of unladen weight :

Higher the unladen weight, lesser will be the payload of the vehicle which would lead to lesser revenue generation.
Lower the unladen weight, higher would be the payload of a vehicle which would lead to higher revenue generation.
All OEMs aim to reduce the unladen weight of their vehicles, so that customer can carry a higher payload which would increase their revenue.

Q. What is payload ?

A. The payload is the load which a vehicle can carry legally. Mathematically, it is arrived by deducting ULW from GVW/GCW of a vehicle. Since 2015, Govt. Has also allowed the carriage of 5% in excess of registered GVW/GCW. Payload is also known as rated load.

Q. How to find payload ?

A. Mathematically,

Payload of a truck = GVW (Gross vehicle weight) - ULW (Unladen weight)

Payload of a tractor trailer= GCW (Gross combination weight) - (Unladen weight of the tractor + Unladen weight of the trailer)

Q. What is the importance of payload ?

A. Following are the importance of payload :

Higher the payload = Higher the revenue generation.
This is an important aspect for each & every customer, while purchasing a commercial vehicle, because higher the payload, higher their revenue would be. Higher revenues help in higher overall profit. There was a time when rampant overload was a normal scenario in India, however, off-late all longer distance operations are strictly monitored which has forced operators to operate at rated load.

C. GVW- Gross Vehicle Weight

Q. What is Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) ?

A. Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) is the combined weight of every axle placed under the chassis, where each axle has a designated rating as per CMVR (Central Motor Vehicle Rules).

Q. How to find the Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) ?

A. Mathematically, Gross vehicle weight = Unladen weight + Payload

Q. What is the role of Gross Vehicle Weight ?

A. Following are the roles of Gross Vehicle Weight for commercial vehicle :

Higher the gross vehicle weight (GVW), higher the possibility of payload which may lead to higher revenue generation.
With the increase in GVW, number of axles/tyres keep on increasing currently 49 Ton is the highest possible GVW truck in the country.

D. GCW- Gross Combination Weight

Q. What is Gross Combination Weight (GCW) ?

A. GCW is combined weight of every axle placed under the tractor & the trailer, where each axle has a designated rating as per CMVR.

Q. How to find Gross Combination Weight (GCW) ?

A. Mathematically, Gross combination weight = GVW of the tractor + GVW of the trailer

Q. What is the role of Gross Combination Weight ?

A. Following are the roles of Gross Combination Weight :

Higher the GCW, higher the possibility of payload which may lead to higher revenue generation.
With the increase in GCW, number of axles/tyres keep on increasing currently 55 Ton is the highest possible GCW Tractor Trailer in the country.

E. Tonnage Categories

Q. What are the categories of commercial vehicles in India ?

A. Based on least to highest GVW, there are multiple categories of commercial vehicles in India.

Table of categories of commercial vehicle in India

GVW ≤ 3.5 Ton	N1	N 1A
3.5 Ton < GVW ≤ 7.5 Ton	N2	N 2A
7.5 ton < GVW ≤ 12 Ton	N2	N 2B
12 Ton < GVW ≤ 18.5 Ton	N3 2 Axle Rigid	N 3A
18.5 Ton < GVW ≤ 28 Ton	N3 Multi Axle Rigid	N 3B
28 Ton < GVW ≤ 49 Ton	N3 Multi Axle Rigid	N 3C
30 Ton < GCW ≤ 55 Ton	N3 Multi Axle Rigid	N3 Tractor

Tonnage Categorization Table as per OEMs

Upto 3.5 Ton	SCV	Small Commercial Vehicle
3.5 Ton < GVW ≤ 8 Ton	LCV	Light Commercial Vehicle
8 Ton < GVW ≤ 16.02 Ton	ICV	Intermediate Commercial Vehicle
18.5 Ton GVW	MCV	Medium Commercial Vehicle
28 Ton < GVW ≤ 49 Ton	MAV	Multi Axle Vehicle
30 Ton < GCW ≤ 55 Ton	TT	Tractor Trailer

* 18.5 Ton - 55 Ton comes under M&HCV segment

Q. What is an axle?

A. The axle is an aggregate on which wheels are mounted. Each set of the axle has a predefined tonnage rating as per CMVR.

Q. Axle rating by CMVR

A. Below is the illustration of axle types & their rating for M&HCV as per CMVR

G. M&HCV Tonnage Configuration

Q. What is the full form of M&HCV?

A. The full form of M&HCV is Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicle.

Q. How to configure medium & heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) on the basis of tonnage ?

A. Tonnage configuration for M&HCV is the combined weight of all the axles placed under the chassis, where each axle has a designated rating as per CMVR.