It appears that the upgrades at the plant are meant to prepare it for the eventual development of Cummins’ fuel-agnostic engine platform, a series of engines designed to run on fuels such as natural gas and hydrogen and derived from a common base engine.

With natural gas derived from renewable sources (such as waste), customers can cut their carbon emissions by up to 90%.

An order for 100 LNG-powered 55t tractor units have been secured from Pune-based multimodal logistics services company, CONCUR.

With this delivery, Ashok Leyland claims it is the first OEM to supply a vehicle with an in-house developed LNG engine compliant to BS VI Stage II emissions guidelines. Ashok Leyland also launched a CNG version of the 1922 4x2 haulage truck.

Set to be released in 2024, Cummins claims that the X15N natural gas engine delivers diesel-like performance in terms of power, durability and reliability.

The third-generation demo truck, powered by a Cummins ‘X15N’ engine with renewable natural gas, hauled a fully loaded trailer on an 840-mile round trip in California to collect performance data.

The new injector design has two iterations: a high-pressure direct injector capable of fuelling applications from 25 to 200 kW per cylinder; and a high-flow port injector capable of “very high” gaseous fuel flow rates.

Scania says it is working with Spanish coachbuilder Irizar to integrate the ‘i6s Efficient’ with a Scania gas-powered chassis, with a target completion date of end-of-2025.

The onboard engines are modified to run on LNG with Westport’s high-pressure direct injection (HPDI) system.

The joint venture, which will make use of Westport assets and intellectual property, will receive an initial USD28m investment from Volvo, giving it a 45% stake.

Scania is active in Brazil with multiple partners in both bus and truck to encourage development of gas and biogas-powered vehicles.

The biomethane bus trial in Londrina is the third demonstration by Compagas and Scania in 2023; the first being in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba, and then in the capital city of Curitiba.