GTI Energy research programs are developing and commercializing natural gas engines to boost the popularity of NGVs among the long-haul fleet market segment. Key to growth in the fleet segment is the addition of new, higher horsepower engines.
With UTD support, the Cummins 8.9L Ultra-Low Emissions Engine was the first engine certified to the California 2010 standards for heavy-duty vehicle engines—achieving emission levels below the 0.2 g NOx/hp-hr requirement while also retaining high shaft efficiency. Since commercial introduction in 2007, the engine has been widely used in the U.S. (with over 13,000 engines now in service) and throughout the world in transit, refuse-collection, and regional hauling applications.
Continuing a highly successful 25-year relationship with Cummins and Cummins Westport Inc. (CWI), GTI Energy and UTD supported the development of a new CWI 11.9-liter 400-HP NGV engine (ISX12G) for the large truck and bus market segment in a multi-million-dollar collaborative effort. The newly available engine satisfies the most stringent California emission requirements, meeting 2013 EPA regulations and 2014 GHG and fuel efficiency rules. As of August 2013, the engine became commercially available after a field-test fleet of 20 trucks had accumulated almost 1.9 million miles.
In another transportation example, GTI Energy and OTD developed a new mobile compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station that gives NGV fleets fueling capability at their home base—or anywhere—without the need to build a fueling station. The technology is marketed as the FuelMule™ by Ultimate CNG and is capable of dispensing eight gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) per minute at a delivery pressure of 3,600 pounds per square inch. The FuelMule™ is fitted with onboard storage capacity of 700 gge that can fuel 35 to 50 medium-duty vehicles per delivery. Separate electronic metering allows for the filling of two vehicles simultaneously.