Research expected to open up new markets for KGM.

Gonzalez will take up his role on 1 April, replacing Westport CEO Dan Sceli who leads the joint venture on an interim basis.

The company also unveiled its new direct-injection hydrogen engine.

Mahle is contracted to supply a “hydrogen power cell unit” and other components to MAN for its ‘hTGX’ truck, which was announced earlier this year.

Westport said that it and its ‘Cespira’ joint venture with Volvo would “continue to collaborate” with Weichai.

Tenneco claims that hydrogen combustion technology is experiencing “an unprecedented surge” of interest from certain “hard-to-abate” sectors of the transport market, including agriculture, construction, and heavy-duty trucking.

The company introduced several products aimed at advancing hydrogen-powered CV technologies. This emphasised Eaton’s commitment to supporting the hydrogen-powered CV industry.

Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and with offices in Gothenburg, Sweden and Brescia, Italy, Cespira was formed by the two companies to commercialise Westport’s high-pressure direct injection technology.

In July, American powertrain manufacturer, Cummins Inc, opened a new test facility at its engine plant in Darlington in the northeast of England, with the attendance of T&BB and other members of the trade press. The company has carried out engine testing at Darlington for many years, but the new facility represents a definitive change in approach to product development and evaluation. While the older test cells are solely designed to assess engines, the new facility can accommodate an entire truck or bus for whole vehicle testing. Moreover, the building which houses the new facility is specifically made to safely test gas and hydrogen combustion vehicles.

The company showcased a variety of powertrain systems, including natural gas-powered engines, and electric propulsion (e-propulsion) systems.

The company has been testing a hydrogen-powered engine in a Mercedes-Benz Unimog with the long-term aim of developing, at scale, hydrogen combustion engines for heavy-duty and specialised vehicles.

The new facility, which is already in use, incorporates a test chamber and engine dynamometers with nominal capacities of 900 kilowatts and 4,000 Nm.