Clean Energy Fuels Corp. is teaming up with transport powerhouse J.B. Hunt to test a truck powered by a new type of environmentally friendly engine that runs on renewable natural gas.
Clean Energy (Nasdaq: CLNE), which provides environmentally friendly renewable fuel for buses and trucks, last month launched a program letting Hunt (Nasdaq: JBHT) test a heavy-duty truck equipped with the new Cummins X15N engine.
The X15N engine, made by Cummins Inc. of Columbus, Indiana, is the first 15-liter natural gas engine to come to market, built to match the performance and reliability of its diesel counterpart but running on renewable natural gas. That reduces carbon emissions by up to 300% versus diesel.
The feedback from the Lowell, Arkansas-based trucking firm’s drivers and team firm was positive after two weeks of testing, a Clean Energy spokesperson told the Business Journal on Sept. 27.
Drivers Signal Approval
The Hunt drivers have found that the engine “has the same type of performance as a diesel engine, which is very important,” according to the spokesperson.
Andrew Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy, said the new engine has the potential to “decarbonize” part of Hunt’s operations.
The truck test comes as various sectors try to curb pollution-causing emissions, including harmful diesel exhaust.
The transport developments include trucks powered by hydrogen as well as the much better-known battery-powered vehicles. Solar-powered vehicles are in the early stages of development.
Clean Energy’s X15N demo truck program is expected to run through 2025 or longer. The truck, a 2025 Peterbilt 579-day cab tractor, sporting Clean Energy’s signature green, will make its way through large and medium size heavy-duty trucking companies in states including California, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma.
Newport Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels plans to add a second truck to the program in 2025.
The fleets operating the demo truck will be able to utilize Clean Energy’s fueling infrastructure which consists of over 600 stations across North America.
Clean Energy’s RNG is made entirely from organic waste at facilities such as dairy farms.
Separately, Clean Energy said it will build The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County’s (METRO) first private natural gas fueling station. Houston’s METRO is the region’s largest public transport provider.
The station will fuel up to 120 transit buses with clean CNG, which will provide over 51 million rides across the city, according to a Sept. 26 announcement.
