Norcal Waste Systems to Test Westport's Low Emissions Fuel System
Cummins Engine Company, Inc. of Columbus, IN, will supply a 400 horsepower ISX diesel engine for the Norcal truck. Delivery is scheduled for the first quarter of 2001, making Norcal the first customer for Westport's 2001 field-testing program.
This test project is a joint effort by Norcal, the City of San Francisco, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The company operates a fleet of about 1,400 vehicles and 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. Norcal will use its HPDI equipped transfer truck to haul refuse from San Francisco to Altamont Pass Landfill, a 58-mile trip.
"Norcal is looking forward to putting Westport's system through rigorous performance and durability testing. If this system proves itself in on-road service and achieves certification from the California Air Resources Board, Norcal would investigate outfitting additional long-haul tractors in our San Francisco fleet," said Bennie Anselmo, Vice President of Equipment and Maintenance for Norcal. Norcal operates 30 long-haul transfer trucks serving San Francisco. The company has actively supported and tested lower-emissions engines for many years, and is looking for additional Transportation Funds for Cleaner Air to possibly expand the system to other refuse and recycling vehicles in the company fleet.
In partnership with Cummins, Westport's strategy for 2001 is to introduce heavy-duty trucks outfitted with the HPDI technology to customers throughout California for field-testing purposes. The truck for Norcal is the first delivery commitment for 2001 and is in addition to a three-truck prototype development project commencing in 2000. Westport and Cummins anticipate that upon successful delivery and testing of these vehicles the technology will be positioned for commercial production in 2003.
Because Westport's technology is chassis-neutral, the fuel system will be outfitted onto several different types of chassis purchased from North American manufacturers. All three HPDI fuel systems for 2000 are being mounted on Kenworth truck chassis. For Norcal, the engine and fuel system will be mounted on a Peterbilt chassis. Kenworth and Peterbilt are both owned by Paccar Inc. of Bellevue, WA, a leading global truck chassis manufacturer.
The technology is intended to retain all of the performance and fuel economy of diesel engines while meeting the 2002 emissions targets of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). Westport's fuel systems are also intended to significantly reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to meet proposed global warming initiatives.
Source: Westport Technologies, Inc.
Edited by Kate Goff
Editor, Solid Waste Online