As it developed its Class 8 natural gas roadmap, CalHEAT relied on industry input, including representatives from Cummins Westport, Freightliner Trucks, Kenworth, Mack Trucks, Peterbilt and Volvo Trucks.
The California Energy Commission established CalHEAT in 2010 to research planning, commercializing, and demonstrating truck technologies for more fuel-efficient medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and to reduce emissions. The focus of its roadmap is to identify key technologies, policy drivers and infrastructure to support pending anticipated growth in the use of natural gas as a fuel in the Class 8 truck market.
For natural gas vehicles to remain viable in the time period of 2014 to 2032, CalHEAT states, they must be technologically able to address the next generation of criteria and greenhouse gas emission standards.
Natural gas vehicles are already inherently cleaner than those running on petroleum fuels, the group notes, but that advantage may be diminished in the 2020’s as newer technologies and fuels emerge driven by pending voluntary lower NOx emission standards.
By identifying future technology barriers and gaps now, CalHEAT notes that regulators and other technology stakeholders will be able to ensure that natural gas will continue to grow as a petroleum reduction strategy along with a tool for addressing NOx and greenhouse gases.
The results of a CalHEAT initial investigation were integrated into application-based pathways that included long haul operations, as well as local and regional delivery, refuse and transit fleets.
Key findings included that the market for heavy-duty natural gas trucks in the Southern California Gas Co. service territory may grow four-fold by 2020 and ten-fold by 2030.
Regional/local delivery and linehaul applications are forecasted by CalHEAT to be growth markets as well. Additionally, new federal fuel economy and greenhouse gas regulations for trucks that will be enacted for 2019 and beyond will drive technology development of advanced drivetrains, seen by CalHEAT as a positive impact for natural gas.
