Cummins Westport gets funding for natural gas venture

VANCOUVER, B.C. (Oct. 24, 2002) — Cummins Westport Inc., a joint venture of Cummins and Westport Innovations Inc. of Vancouver, B.C. announced earlier this week that it won $760,000 in funding to improve heavy-duty vehicle fuel pump and storage technology for liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The financial assistance award was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Chicago Operations Office in cooperation with DOE’s Office of Transportation Technology and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

A goal of the one-year program is to develop and demonstrate an advanced-design integrated fuel tank and pump system for vehicles fueled with LNG. As part of the program, Cummins Westport will develop technology to enable refueling with LNG at its maximum-density state, to provide the longest possible vehicle range and hold time for a given fuel tank size. In addition, the technology developed by Cummins Westport for on-board storage will eliminate the need for pressure-increasing equipment at LNG refueling
stations, improving their reliability and decreasing their cost, the company said.

“The advances from this program will further enhance the attractiveness of heavy-duty trucks and buses incorporating our low-emissions Cummins Westport ISXG and ISMG engines,” Hugh Foden, president of Cummins Westport, said in a press release.