Cummins Westport has rolled out the long-anticipated 12-liter near-zero-NOx natural gas engine, the ISX12N, providing the cleanest heavy-duty engine available. CARB has certified it at 0.01 NOx grams per brake horsepower-hour while running on RNG—half the emissions required in its optional low-NOx standard of 0.02 g/bhp-hr.
“With RNG, the ISX12N and the L9N engines operate at sub-zero-NOx emissions when their entire life-cycle impact, including the source of energy, is calculated,” said Hugh Donnell, who leads the North American truck market and truck OEM business for Cummins Westport.
“Heavy-duty diesel freight trucks produce the worst pollution in California. Now we have the ISX12N running RNG, and when it’s used to replace them, it will help to exponentially reduce air pollution along freight corridors and advance the state’s air quality goals,” said Coalition President Thomas Lawson.
With 400 horsepower and 1,450 pound-foot torque, the ISX12N is suited for heavy-duty regional haul truck and tractor applications and return-to-base operations, such as those performed by larger refuse trucks and vocational trucks. As for the company’s 9-liter low-NOx natural gas engine, the ISXN12’s emissions of NOx and particulate matter are 90 percent less than the EPA standard. Both engines have on-board diagnostics and a closed crankcase ventilation system, which captures and reroutes crankcase emissions back to the engine; this reduces engine-related methane emissions by as much as 70 percent. The ISXN12 also features a one-piece fuel system for improved performance.
Donnell expects adoption of the new engine to increase quickly in 2018, thanks to state and local incentive funding, which could provide as much as $100,000 per engine.
The ISX12N may be ordered now through all traditional OEMs, including Peterbilt, Freightliner, and Volvo. With full production launching on Feb. 18, the engine is expected to be powering trucks on California’s highways as early as March.