Australia, Melbourne
Natural gas engine supplier Cummins Westport (CWI) has its eyes firmly
on the Australian heavy vehicle market. Speaking from Melbourne, where
he began a week long visit to meet with industry stakeholders and fleet
operators, Cummins Westport President, Guan Saw, said he is ‘very
excited’ about the Australian market. “Feedback from OEM vehicle
manufacturers and fleet operators has been very positive so far.
The fuel price differential between natural gas and diesel is getting
wider every day, making natural gas engines an important cost saving
solution for fleet operators.”
Though CWI engines only have a small presence currently in
Australia, Saw says the company has definite long term plans to have an
impact in Australia. “We are involved with a number of smaller scale
projects at the moment which will prove our product to the Australian
market,” he said.
One of these is what’s believed to be a world first application for a
natural gas engine, powering a concrete truck and agitator.
Stakeholders involved in the project include vehicle OEM IVECO, CWI’s
Australian agent, Cummins Australia, Advanced Fuels Technology, who are
managing the fuel fit out and certification and fleet operator Boral (see earlier story). The first of these vehicles is expected to be operational within a matter of weeks.
Saw says fleet operators in Australia are already pleasantly surprised
by the standard of engines on offer, with some already operational in a
number of applications. “Though we had some teething problems
with our legacy products, these are all behind us now and the engines
we are producing can match diesel engines for performance and
reliability and are well ahead on emissions. We are generally about one
generation ahead of diesel engines on emissions performance.”
Despite the ready availability of mature and reliable natural gas
engines and the compelling economics, Saw, who also sits on the board
of the Asia-Pacific Natural Gas Vehicles Association (ANGVA), says the
main hurdle in Australia is refueling infrastructure. Saw says he has
met with gas suppliers in Australia already to assure them that CWI
will put product to the Australian market to match refueling
infrastructure. “We have already spoken with one company that is
planning to make as much as 100 tons of natural gas, in LNG [liquefied
natural gas] and CNG [compressed natural gas] forms, available to
fleets.”
He says the Government could play an active role in infrastructure also
and urged the Federal Government to provide incentives to support this.
“On the day I arrived the Government announced $1.5 billion in
incentives for LPG [see NGV Global report]. This is an important step
but it should be extended to natural gas as well. It makes so much
sense for the Australian situation.”
Infrastructure concerns aside, Saw is upbeat about prospects, citing
the interest of OEMs as another positive influence. “I meet with an OEM
yesterday and there were thirty people in the room for my presentation
from all areas of the business – not just engineering but marketing
also. This is very encouraging.”
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