Dive Brief:
- Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings is testing a renewable natural gas engine that manufacturer Cummins will release in 2024 to help carriers reach environmental goals, the company announced.
- The X15N engine truck fuels up at Clean Energy Fuel Corp.’s station in Carson, California. The natural gas can come from municipal landfills, water purification facilities and livestock farms and “can be up to seven times cleaner toward carbon emissions than diesel,” Cummins has noted.
- “We value our collaboration with Cummins and are encouraged by what we have seen so far with the 15L renewable natural gas technology,” Dave Williams, Knight-Swift Transportation’s senior VP of equipment and government relations, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Major carriers are aiming to reduce emissions as the country moves toward alternative energy sources.
Knight-Swift plans to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 50% by 2035. That comes as California regulations are pushing carriers to transform fleets, and other states are also updating emissions rules.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules are also pushing OEMs toward new environmental standards. While the Senate voted in April and the House agreed in May to ban a new emissions reduction for heavy-duty trucks, President Joe Biden vetoed the measure in June.
Like Knight-Swift, Werner Enterprises similarly plans to reduce emissions by 55% as of 2035 and also announced earlier this year that it would test the same Cummins X15N engine.
“These vehicles can greatly reduce emissions when running renewable natural gas and we are eager and willing to help validate this new technology,” CEO, Chairman and President Derek Leathers said in a news release in April.
Trucking customers are also showing more interest in the area, Leathers also noted in September 2022 when the carrier signed a letter of intent to buy 500 hydrogen engines.
