American Power Group Inc. has received online notification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that its recent Clean Alternative Fuel Vehicle and Engine Conversion Submission for an additional 22 engine families has been approved for the following additional Outside Useful Life (OUL) engines:

  • Cummins ISX          (2009 - 2007)
  • Cummins ISM          (2009 - 2007)
  • Caterpillar C-15        (1997 - 1996)
  • Caterpillar C-16        (1997)

The submission used APG’s latest V5000 Dual Fuel Turbocharged Natural Gas technology which is required to meet specific design, componentry, and emission compliance criteria per the EPA Final Rule 40CFR Parts 85 and 86.

APG designs, manufactures and installs dual-fuel natural gas conversion kits for heavy duty diesel engines that are considered beyond their 'useful' life by EPA definition. The retro-fit kits allow trucks to run on a blend of diesel and natural gas, with up to 80% diesel displacement.

It's a bolt-on system that is non-invasive to the original engine, yet maintains all OE temperatures, pressures and compression ratios. It uses methane enriched air introduced upstream of the turbocharger blended with diesel fuel delivered in the usual manner. Three add-on controllers manage the blending and enrichment states. The engine can be returned to 100 percent diesel service at any time, and the system can be removed from on truck and installed on another, improving the ROI for the owner.

This round of approvals marks the completion of the Class 8 EPA OUL testing for the most popular Cummins and Detroit Diesel engine families for model years 2009 to 2002 and the most popular Caterpillar engine families from 2006 to 1996.

The EPA OUL testing for the Volvo and Mack engine families has begun and APG anticipate testing and approvals to be completed by early summer 2013.

Since May 2012, we have received approval on over one hundred EPA OUL engine families and anticipate having over two hundred OUL engine families approved when we complete this phase of testing later this spring which would open up an estimated domestic multi-billion dollar OUL addressable market of 500,000 vehicles," said Lyle Jensen, American Power Group Corporation’s president and CEO.

The company recently began EPA Intermediate Useful Life (IUL) testing at the University of Houston Diesel Testing And Research Center for the lower mileage Class 8 trucks that utilize either the catalytic converter or selective catalyst reduction emission technology.

"Progress is steady and we expect most of the popular IUL engine family approvals will be completed during the calendar year," says Jensen. That group of engines represents an estimated additional potential 400,000 vehicles for dual-fuel conversion. This timeline aligns itself nicely with our recently announced national roll-out of WheelTime Network certified installers which will occur during calendar year 2013.”

APG Gets Major Order from Oil & Gas Industry

APG announced during the Technology and Maintenance Council's Annual Meeting that it has received a $900,000 purchase order from one of the top 5 oil field and drilling service companies in the world, to upgrade and convert diesel pumps used for hydraulic fracturinLNGg to APG’s Turbocharged Natural Gas Dual Fuel System.

APG will provide a turnkey solution inclusive of certified installer training which will enable the customer to install subsequent conversions. APG expects the units to be converted and operational during the second calendar quarter. The end customer was not disclosed for proprietary reasons.

"At a time when global diesel prices continue to escalate, the ability for operators to utilize our dual fuel technology with inexpensive, clean-burning, and plentiful domestic natural gas provides a significant competitive advantage for those that adopt an APG dual fuel operation," Jensen noted. "This is the second major order APG has received for dual fuel hydraulic fracturing in the past ninety days and we expect an accelerating adoption of our technology for both stationary and vehicular applications during 2013.”

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