Vancouver, B.C.-based Westport Innovations has launched its first Canadian customer field trial of a low-emissions heavy-duty truck using liquefied natural gas.

The truck, equipped with Westport's proprietary natural gas fuel system, is designed to operate with all of the power and performance of a standard diesel fuel engine. Westport provided the truck to fleet operator Bobell Group of Aldergrove, British Columbia, which will use it to haul wood chips from Aldergrove to Bellingham, Washington.
Vancouver-based BCG eFuels and Chart Industries of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, will provide the infrastructure.
"Bobell is very keen to use this technology, because no other low-emissions technology has ever been able to deliver the performance of diesel fuel engines," said Greg Mulvihill, Manager of Bobell Group. "Our initial impression is that Westport's technology represents a significant breakthrough and we are looking forward to verifying it under commercial hauling conditions."
Chart provided a newly developed Orca refuelling station for the field trial. The Orca, a portable trailer, is the smallest of a range of LNG truck refuelling stations manufactured by Chart. "Because it can be quickly and inexpensively installed in a truck yard, the Orca is especially useful for LNG trials," said David Barr, Chart's Vice-President of LNG systems.
Chart, a leading manufacturer of cryogenic equipment, also provided the two on-board storage tanks for the Bobell truck.
LNG for the truck is being supplied by eFuels, which is 32 percent owned by Westport and 68 percent owned by BC Gas of Vancouver. The LNG for the Bobell facility is produced by BC Gas at its Tilbury liquefaction plant in Delta, B.C. and is delivered by truck to the Orca refuelling station.
The Bobell truck is powered by a Cummins ISX 400 horsepower engine. Under a technology development agreement with Cummins, Westport has been working since 1999 to adapt its fuel system to the ISX truck engine. An independent laboratory test in January verified that the engine with Westport's natural gas fuel system produces precisely the same power and torque as the standard, diesel fuel ISX.