Norcal placed an order last year for one field-test version of the natural gas truck engine from Westport. Norcal's decision to order additional ones followed the announcement last month of a Cummins-Westport joint venture to design and market alternative engines for vehicles, and the announcement in February that the Westport fuel system had obtained low-emissions certification from the California Air Resources Board.
All the trucks for Norcal are scheduled for delivery this year.
"Norcal's fleet of natural gas HPDI trucks should provide an excellent opportunity for documenting the operating costs and performance benefits of the Westport fuel system," said David Demers, president and CEO of Westport. "The information will assist the Cummins-Westport joint venture in its ongoing product development program."
The chassis for each truck will be a Peterbilt 378. Each of the trucks will use a 15-liter, Cummins ISX 400 horsepower engine. With the Westport HPDI fuel system, the Cummins ISX engine retains the power, performance and fuel efficiency of the standard diesel fuel ISX engine while operating on natural gas, said Westport.
Norcal operates a fleet of about 1,400 vehicles. It provides solid-waste management services for more than 400,000 residential and 50,000 commercial and industrial customers in San Francisco and more than 50 other communities in California. Most of the new natural gas trucks will be used by Norcal to haul refuse from San Francisco to Altamont Pass Landfill, a 58-mile trip.
