Kenworth Receives $8.6M for Low-Emission Vehicle Projects in California

Kenworth Truck Co. says it has been awarded three government grants totaling $8.6 million that will support low-emissions projects involving Kenworth T680 Day Cabs to be used as drayage tractors in Southern California ports.

According to Kenworth, the first two projects are funded at $1.9 million each by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, with Southern California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) as the prime applicant. Kenworth says it will build two, proof-of-concept T680 Day Cab drayage tractors to transport freight from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to warehouses and railyards along the I-710 corridor in the Los Angeles basin.

The truck company states that the first T680 Day Cab will be a hybrid-electric drayage truck producing near-zero emissions and utilizing a currently available compressed natural gas (CNG) engine to generate electrical power. The second T680 Day Cab will feature a hydrogen fuel cell, offering 100% zero-emissions operation. These trucks are expected to be identical, except for their power generation systems, and will have an all-electric range of 30 miles, in addition to onboard CNG and hydrogen capacity, respectively, of 100 diesel gallons equivalent.

Kenworth says the third project is funded at $4.8 million by the California Air Resources Board, again with the SCAQMD as the prime applicant. The truck manufacturer will build four hybrid-electric T680 Day Cabs and support the customer field test of the units in Southern California drayage operations.

“Hybrid-electric powertrains are expected to be required within seven to 10 years to meet emissions requirements in several major metropolitan areas of the United States. Already California is considering regulations requiring port drayage trucks to run at zero-emission levels when operating in economically disadvantaged communities,” says Mike Dozier, Kenworth’s general manager and PACCAR Inc.’s vice president. “These T680 Day Cab projects are a great opportunity for Kenworth to advance the development of key technologies that may play a critical role in the trucks of the future.”