Cummins All Electric Class 7 Truck Revealed

With Tesla ready to roll out its Tesla Semi in September, Cummins stole a bit of the Silicon Valley company’s thunder by unveiling its own all electric Class 7 electric truck on August 29. Cummins does not make trucks, it makes the power trains that make them go.

The trucking industry needs a large variety of trucks. Some are used in stop and go situations such as making deliveries or picking up trash. Some haul cargo trailers and containers over short distances, often from a port to a nearby distribution center. Some haul freight across the continent. Trucking companies are tightly focused on efficiency. Whichever truck can get the job done at the lowest cost is the one they buy.

The Cummins Class 7 electric truck prototype is dubbed AEOS — one of the horses that pulled the golden chariot of Helios across the heavens every day in Greek mythology. It has a 145 kWh battery and can haul a 22 ton trailer for up to 100 miles. Thanks to its advanced technology, recharging takes only an hour using a 140 kW charger. The Cummins power train won’t go into production until 2019 and the company expects charging times will have dropped to around 20 minutes by then.

The company is targeting truck and bus manufacturers that cater to customers who need short range capability. Approximately one year after the all electric power train enters production, the company will also offer a version with an on-board diesel range extender engine. Working together, both components will have a range of up to 300 miles and slash fuel consumption by 50% compared to trucks with conventional diesel hybrid power.

Cummins CEO Thomas Linebarger says the technology isn’t there yet for a Class 8 electric truck with long range capability. But he feels his nearly 100 year old company is intimately familiar with the needs of its customers and will always offer class leading options to its customers.

“There are more technologies coming into economic relevance than we’ve seen in my career, ever,” Linebarger tells Forbes. “This is what we do. We feel we do better when technologies are shifting.” He is well aware of the competition from companies like Tesla, Proterra, Nikola, and WrightSpeed. “All those competitors we take very seriously. They’re innovative, well-funded and have a technology mindset, much like Cummins.”

“We know that we cannot have one solution for everybody,” he says. That’s why Cummins will continue to develop more efficient diesel engines while exploring fuel cell technology and alternative fuels line LNG and LPG. “We need to make sure we have the right technology for the right application. Even if the electrified power train replaces the internal combustion engine completely, that’s still a 20 to 25 year transition period customers have to manage through. If we have good technology, they’ll want to buy it from us.”

Source: Forbes

Tesla Using LNG Powered Ferries To Deliver Cars To Norway

Tesla prides itself on limiting the carbon emissions from its manufacturing operations. The Gigafactory, its new $5 billion battery making facility in Nevada, was designed from the ground up to be net zero and have zero emissions. The factory will generate most of the electricity it needs from solar panels and wind turbines. It is so green, Tesla decided to not even provide it with a natural gas supply for use in emergencies.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel, so it doesn’t qualify as being a fully sustainable energy source. But it still burns much cleaner than coal, gasoline, or diesel fuel. In today’s world of global commerce, most of the world’s goods travel by ship at some point. Commercial ships burn what is known as bunker oil. It is the heaviest,dirtiest form of diesel fuel there is. According to a story in the Daily Mail, the annual emissions from just 16 ocean going cargo ships equal the emissions from all the cars in the world.

Norway is one of Tesla’s biggest markets in Europe, thanks to generous electric car incentives put in place by the Norwegian government. Typically, cars destined for sale in Norway are shipped across the Atlantic to Bremerhaven, Germany. From their they are trucked by diesel powered transporters to Kristiansand in southern Norway, then placed on other trucks to be delivered to the rest of the country.

Last fall, Anders Sandvik of Nor Lines, a Norwegian shipping company, purchased a Tesla Model S. Nor Lines has two new ferries that are powered by liquefied nature gas (LNG). Those ships have far lower emissions than conventional diesel powered vessels. Sandvik started thinking about how his Model S got to him in Norway and saw an opportunity for his company.

“I didn’t think it made any sense for cars going to western and northern Norway through a port in the east of the country,” Sandvik told Norwegian news site PursuitGreen. He got in touch with Tesla and suggested it consider shipping its cars by sea using Nor Lines’ LNG powered ferries. He pointed out that using a sea route would eliminate hundreds of trips a year by diesel powered trucks. In the end, Tesla liked Sandvik’s proposal. The first shipment of 79 cars from Kristiansand to the port of Drammen on Norway’s western coast was completed on March 29.

The lower emissions from shipping by sea appealed to Tesla.  “I don’t think we would have crossed the finish line as easily if the ships were run on heavy oil,” he says. Now, Sandvik is hoping to convince Tesla to ship all its cars bound for Norway directly from Bremerhaven to Norwegian ports on his LNG powered ferries. He thinks his company could be transporting 40 to 50 cars a week on a regular basis soon.

Sandvik has nothing but praise for Tesla and its commitment to the environment. “I think it is wonderful that Tesla dares to be a little different than the traditional commodity owner. They really take the environment seriously and actively seek to minimize their carbon footprint. I miss such vigor in other industries today,” Sandvik says.

A special thank you to Leif Hansen in Norway for bringing this story to our attention.

Photos courtesy of Anders Sandvik/Nor Lines

UPS to purchase ~700 LNG trucks, build 4 refueling stations by end of 2014

UPS plans to purchase approximately 700 liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks and to build four refueling stations by the end of 2014. Once completed, the LNG private fleet will be one of the most extensive in the US.

An initial investment of more than $18 million to build fueling stations will be supported by the purchase of the 700 LNG tractors and continued expansion of the natural gas fleet in the US. UPS already operates 112 LNG tractor trailers from fueling stations in Las Vegas, Nev.; Phoenix, Ariz., and Beaver and Salt Lake City, Utah, and has its own LNG fueling station on its property in Ontario, Calif.

New UPS-built fueling stations in Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., and Dallas, Texas, will serve its heavy-duty rigs traveling into adjacent states. With the addition of accessible LNG fueling stations, UPS also will add LNG trucks on routes from Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Texas to further extend territory.

UPS was a founding Interstate Clean Transportation Corridor (ICTC) fleet partner, a group that established publicly accessible LNG fueling stations in California, Las Vegas, and Utah. The ICTC steering committee includes eight government and regulatory agencies at the local, state and national levels.

LNG is a good alternative to petroleum-based fuel for long-haul delivery fleets as it is abundant and produces reduced emissions at less cost. At UPS, we are helping to knock down some of the biggest hurdles to broad market acceptance of LNG in commercial transportation by continuing to establish vehicle demand, fuel and maintenance infrastructures. We plan expansion through infrastructure partnerships and a broader fleet in states that are leading the way to make alternative fuel vehicles economically feasible.

—Scott Davis, UPS Chairman and CEO

UPS has been operating natural gas vehicles for more than a decade. With natural gas prices 30-40% lower than imported diesel and US production gearing up, the logistics company is investing more aggressively in the natural gas infrastructure necessary to make it part of the UPS delivery network here. Beyond favorable fuel cost and domestic resource access, the industry cites 25% less CO₂emissions.

Worldwide UPS has more than 1,000 natural gas vehicles on the road today. UPS’s alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet of more than 2,600 vehicles also includes a wide array of low-emissions vehicles, including all-electrics, electric hybrids, hydraulic hybrids, propane, compressed natural gas and biomethane. Since 2000, the fleet powered by alternative fuels and technologies has driven more than 295 million miles.

Mack showcases natural-gas-powered MACK Pinnacle built for UPS

Mack Trucks, part of the Volvo Group, unveiled its 12-liter natural-gas-powered MACK Pinnacle Axle Back model during the 2013 Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS). The natural gas-powered Mack Pinnacle, offering a liquefied natural gas (LNG) solution for on-highway applications, was built for UPS.

The addition of the natural gas-powered Pinnacle expands Mack’s natural gas line-up to the highway segment. Mack already offers natural gas-powered MACK TerraPro Low Entry and MACK TerraPro Cabover refuse models, and later this year, plans to introduce a natural gas-powered version of the MACK Granite model.

The Mack Pinnacle is equipped with the Cummins Westport ISX12 G engine and available for order with either an LNG or compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel system. The maintenance-free aftertreatment, requiring only a three-way catalyst to meet EPA 2010 and CARB emissions standards, combined with low-cost natural gas, reduces vehicle lifecycle costs and thereby improves customers’ return on investment.

East China Province Selects LNG As Transportation Fuel

We all wish more countries, provinces and states would adopt the position that the Fujian Province in East China has. They have determined to trade out their 2000 inter-city buses and 1000 waterway vessels for vehicles that run solely on LNG (liquified natural gasoline). What a statement. Part of the project includes building 30 natural gas stations/refill points.

According to a contract signed Thursday between Fujian Investment and Development Group Ltd. and Fujian Expressway LLC, the former will invest 320 million yuan (46.85 million U.S. dollars) in building 30 gas filling stations to supply 133,000 tonnes of LNG for the 2,000 inter-city buses. The move will replace 180,000 tonnes of gasoline and diesel a year, the investment and development company said.

Under a related accord, Fujian will buy 2.6 million tonnes of LNG from Indonesia annually in a 25-year period from 2009 to fuel the plan, the local government said.

Source: People's Daily