LONG BEACH, CA. AJR Trucking has taken delivery of the first truck with the Cummins Westport ISX12N, the new near-zero emissions, natural gas engine.
During a ceremony at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, Jack and Chris Khudikyan of AJR received the keys to the Kenworth T680, and said it would be put into service delivering mail for the U.S. Postal Service in a matter of days.
The ISX12N is the only engine certified by the California Air Resources Board as meeting the toughest optional low NOx standard, which is 90% cleaner than federal standards. The truck was purchased with funds from the Proposition 1B incentive pool managed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
AJR plans to take ownership of an additional 19 more T680s with the Cummins Westport engine this year, and as many as 40 more in 2019.
The hand-off of the keys took place at Kenworth’s booth in the ACT exhibit hall. AJR’s new truck was positioned near a prototype T680 tractor equipped with a parallel hybrid electric propulsion system. The truck made its public debut at ACT and is part of the Hybrid Emission Cargo Transport (HECT) demonstration project.
The T680 HECT truck uses the Cummins Westport ISL G near-zero engine fueled by CNG, in combination with a generator to extend the truck’s battery range.
The truck has a 30-mile zero emissions range using the electricity stored in the lithium-ion batteries. When the batteries are depleted, the near-zero emissions engine turns on to generate more energy, and extend the truck’s range up to 250 miles.
Kenworth also displayed its T680 ZECT tractor, which uses a hydrogen fuel cell that combines compressed hydrogen gas and air to produce electricity, with only water vapor emitted at the exhaust pipe. The truck made its public debut at the CES show earlier this year in Las Vegas.
The electrical energy can power the dual-rotor electric motor to move the truck, or recharge the lithium-ion batteries for use later. The electric drive system manages the power from the fuel cell to and from the batteries, as well as the traction motors and other components, such as the electrified power steering and brake air compressor.
The two trucks are expected to be put into service with Total Transportation Services Inc. at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach later in 2018.
