Green Truck Summit Looks at Future Trucks
The Green Truck Summit kickstarted the NTEA Truck Work Week event in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 7th. At the event, industry stakeholders came together to discuss potential ideas for the truck fuel of the future and their various viabilities.
Industry Infrastructure
Perhaps the most notable speaker at the event was Andrew Wrobel, director of auto and mobility at Escalent, a company that researches how truckers behave.
In his presentation titled, “The Electric Vehicle Balancing Act”, Wrobel argued that the best way to support zero emission vehicles was to have a charging infrastructure for all of them.
“We don’t see a single solution, we see all solutions.” Indeed, it will take more than an infrastructure of electricity alone to keep the American trucking industry moving, unless that charging network were highly optimized.
Cummins Turns to Agnosticism
Cummins has talked about their agnostic engines for quite some time now, and at the event they were happy to announce their newest X10 agnostic engine. With an agnostic engine, 90% of the parts remain the same between models, making changing between them for a truck mechanic significantly easier than it would otherwise be.
Cummins advertises that when it comes out in 2026, the diesel version of their agnostic X10 engine will emit only 25% of the NOx that is allowed by regulators, making it future-proof for many years to come. Additionally, there are B20 and biodiesel models, all touted to have enhanced fuel efficiency for the cost-conscious fleet.
Conclusion
The key takeaway from the Green Truck Summit is that it will still be a very long time before diesel is dethroned as the main fuel source for big rigs and other commercial vehicles. Until that time comes, Cummins’ plan to make that transition as seamless as possible is to get as many tire rotations out of a single drop of diesel, then making the switch as easy as an hour session with a mechanic.
As it has been for some time now, the greatest hurdle to green energy in trucking is the lack of infrastructure, but diesel fuel stations did not appear overnight either, so every and any alternative fuel source is sure to take some time.
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