Volvo PowerTrain is one of the biggest manufacturers of diesel truck engines in the world with renowned names like Mack, Renault and Nissan Diesel under its umbrella. These well-known truck brands may soon be moving away from diesel into the alternative fuel market based on recent news about a tentative agreement with Clean Air Power. This British company manufactures Dual-Fuel technology that can replace 90% of diesel fuel with natural gas when integrated with factory engines. While Volvo PowerTrain has only signed a letter of intent at this point to install this technology into Volvo Trucks models, the two sides have been working on this agreement since 2007.
Volvo Trucks and Clean Air Power collaborated on two exhibition vehicles using the Dual-Fuel technology on Volvo models during these negotiations. In 2007, Volvo Trucks unveiled a Volvo FM9 truck prototype with a nine-liter diesel engine integrated with a Dual-Fuel unit. The two parties went on to develop a Mack Pinnacle Sleeper with a 13-liter engine and Dual-Fuel system that was exhibited at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference last February.
The letter of intent is expected to be formalized into a contract by summer 2009 with the first Volvo Dual-Fuel engines to be available by spring 2010. Volvo will handle the integration and marketing of the Dual-Fuel systems after Clean Air Power has supplied the finished units. Clean Air Power’s technology features an electronic control unit, gas injector and turbocharge air bypass that replace diesel fuel with natural gas without skipping a beat. Once the engine is started with a small amount of diesel, the Dual-Fuel system kicks in and carries the truck the rest of the way. Volvo expects its D13 diesel engines to be about 20% more fuel efficient and cleaner once the Dual-Fuel system is integrated with the automaker’s engine management systems.
Unless the economy takes a bigger tumble and the agreement falls through, the Volvo PowerTrain-Clean Air Power partnership seems to be a win-win. Volvo PowerTrain will be able to cite forward thinking by running one of its signature engines on natural gas. The engine maker’s vast holdings allow it to reach different market sectors around the world, taking care of consumer research and outreach while getting cleaner engines out to its clients. Clean Air Power will be attached to the Volvo name, earn a tidy profit and stay alive in a difficult market for alternative energy companies. This agreement will make further inroads in terms of changing truck and commercial equipment engines to cleaner fuels if it is completed in a timely manner.
