Cummins is starting to gain traction with its new line of ultra-low emissions compressed natural gas truck engines.
Total Transportation Services Inc., a large drayage trucking company working the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, has started to use one of the first Cummins Westport ISX12 G low natural gas engines in one of its trucks to shuttle shipping containers around the port complex.
The ultra-clean compressed natural gas (CNG) engine was developed by the Cummins Westport Inc. joint venture. It can lower the three key types of tailpipe pollutants – nitrates of oxygen or NOx, smog-causing particulates and greenhouse gases – well below the maximum levels now set by federal and state regulation.
Already, an 8.9-liter version of the engine has been certified by the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, to produce 90 percent less NOx than permitted in diesel engines under the present standard of 0.2 grams per horsepower-hour.
The 12-liter engine is expected to get CARB certification of similar NOx reductions.
It is designed for heavy-duty trucks and can reduce greenhouse gas methane emissions by 70 percent or more when run on renewable natural gas, said Rob Neitzke, President of Cummins Westport.
“The trucking industry is facing hard choices on how we are going to reduce our emissions impact, especially here in Southern California,” said Victor La Rosa, chief executive of Total Transportation. “We believe the quickest and most affordable way to cut our NOx emissions to essentially zero is with the new CWI engine and renewable natural gas.”
CARB has estimated that ultra-clean GNG engine is technologically and economically feasible to deploy nearly 400,000 heavy-duty natural gas trucks by 2030.
It is starting to roll out.
Regulators have approved a trio of Peterbilt trucks outfitted with the Cummins near-zero emissions natural gas engines for California’s green truck purchase assistance incentive program.
“We understand the importance of reducing NOx emissions, especially here in California and in the middle of one of the busiest transportation corridors in the nation,” Neitzke said.
Qualified buyers under the state’s Hybrid Vehicle Incentive Program can receive vouchers to offset $8,695 of the price of the 2017 Peterbilt Model 320, $8,694 for the 2017 Model 520 and $8,400 for the 2018 Model 567. All the trucks must have Cummins’ ISL-G engine.
The 320 has long been popular for the refuse and vocational truck industries. The 520 was introduced last year for refuse and recycling use. The 567 – which was just approved for the voucher program on March 15 – is an over-the road tractor used for refuse transfer as well as for freight hauling and construction work.
“Industry leaders have developed cleaner solutions for the trucking industry that are available today,” said Wayne Nastri, executive officer at Southern California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Source: Trucks