Jamestown is Only Plant in North America Mass Producing Class 8 Nat-Gas Engines
This story appears in the Aug. 18 print edition of Transport Topics.
LAKEWOOD, N.Y. — Cummins Inc.’s Jamestown Engine Plant here is the only place in North America that builds a mass production heavy-duty, natural-gas truck engine.
In a joint venture with Westport Innovations, Cummins puts spark-ignition nat-gas fuel systems from the Vancouver, British Columbia-based manufacturer on top of its ISX12 engines to make the Cummins Westport ISX12 G — produced here.
Cummins and Westport also make an 8.9-liter ISL G at a Cummins plant near Rocky Mount, North Carolina, but that is better suited for Class 7 or small Class 8 vehicles.
“There are different part numbers for assembly [of the 12G], but they build pretty similar. You just use a different shopping cart of parts,” said Mike Abbate, manager of the Jamestown plant.
The regular ISX12 uses a Cummins diesel fuel system built in Columbus, Indiana, or Juarez, Mexico, compared with the 12G that uses a throttle box, similar to a carburetor, and spark plugs, Abbate said.
As for appearance, with diesel there is simply compression within the cylinder, but a 12G has more parts external to the combustion chamber.
Cummins Westport has said it is selling the 12G to six of the seven large truck makers. The Western Star niche line, built by Daimler Trucks North America, is the all-diesel exception.
In July, Freightliner Trucks, Daimler’s flagship brand, said it will offer the 12G in its 114SD vocational trucks.
Dave Crompton, president of Cummins’ engine business, offered a mixed report on sales so far.
“Adoption of the ISX12 G has been slower than we had hoped for, but we think it will get there,” he said here on Aug. 8.
Westport used to make a 15-liter nat-gas engine running on high-pressure direct-injection, but that has been phased out. Volvo said it will offer an HPDI engine in late 2015 in conjunction with Westport but not Cummins.
Cummins also has plans to make its own 15-liter, spark-ignited nat-gas engine but for now that is on hold, leaving the ISX12 G as the only heavy-duty option.
