Tests of new X15N RNG engine continue at Knight Transportation

Knight Transportation net zero truck (Photo: Cummins)

Knight Transportation, part of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, which is described as ‘the industry’s largest full truckload company’, has been conducting tests of the new X15N natural gas engine from Cummins.

The engine is said to return NOx and greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions without compromising overall performance.

“Our customers rely on us to deliver a wide range of loads critical to their businesses,” said Dave Williams, Knight-Swift Transportation’s Senior Vice President of Equipment and Government Relations. “We must ensure we are utilizing the most reliable and efficient technologies possible that help us reduce our carbon footprint.”

Knight-Swift has targeted a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions across the KNX fleet by 2035.

Williams continued: “We value our collaboration with Cummins and are encouraged by what we have seen so far with the 15 L renewable natural gas technology. We will continue to work together to make sure that the capabilities and economics associated with this technology allow us to meet the wide[1]ranging needs of our fleet.”

With an anticipated launch date of 2024, the Cummins X15N engine delivers similar longevity and reliability to a diesel engine.

Clean Energy vice president Derek Turbide commented: “We create negative carbon intensity RNG by trapping methane at its biogenic source, preventing it from escaping to atmosphere and turning it into transportation-grade renewable fuel. This results in Clean Energy’s negative carbon intensity RNG that we supply to Clean Energy stations throughout California.”

Field testing with Phoenix-based Knight Transportation is set to continue into 2024.