Trucking companies can now order the Fifth Generation Freightliner Cascadia heavy-duty Class 8 truck with the new Cummins X15N natural-gas 15-liter engine. 

Earlier this month, Freightliner announced orders had opened for the Fifth-Generation Cascadia. 

The offering comes eight months after Cummins began full production of the X15N, marking the first of the Cummins HELM engine platforms. Each HELM platform engine model offered is specifically built and optimized to run on a specific fuel type, such as natural gas, diesel or hydrogen to meet customers’ needs. 

The X15N is certified at 50mg NOx and was built specifically as a natural gas engine. It  features up to a 10% improvement in fuel economy over Cummins’ 12-liter natural gas engine with similar rating and duty cycle. 

According to Cummins, the X15N delivers the performance, durability, and power required in a variety of heavy duty and vocational applications and is an excellent alternative for fleets looking to significantly reduce their carbon footprint. 

The engine can be paired with other Cummins powertrain components to deliver optimized features that further improve emissions beyond what the engine can do on its own. 

The X15N in the Fifth-Generation Freightliner Cascadia

The Fifth Generation Freightliner Cascadia was unveiled last fall during the American Trucking Associations’ annual management conference. Production of the Fifth Generation Freightliner Cascadia, powered by the Cummins X15N, will begin this summer. 

The X15N will be available for the 126-inch bumper-to-back-of-cab (BBC) Cascadia in both sleeper and day cab configurations. 

Additionally, optional frame drilling prep configurations for frame-mounted and back-of-cab-mounted CNG fuel tanks (compressed natural gas) will be offered to support customer range needs.

"Natural gas trucks are becoming increasingly important for on-highway freight transportation," explained Greg Treinen, vice president of on-highway market development at DTNA, in a release. "The Cummins X15N is the first natural gas engine purpose-designed with the power and torque needed for over-the-road customers.”

"The X15N opens up natural gas to a new customer base and many existing natural gas customers are enjoying the additional power and torque available in the new big bore engine,” said Lyndon Jones – Vice President - Engine Business North American Sales & Customer Support at Cummins. “The offering with Freightliner will bring more choice to the market as additional fleets look to add natural gas to their lineups.”