A Knight Transportation truck using a Cummins X15N natural gas engine is pictured. The engine will be placed into full production at the Cummins Engine Plant in 2024.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — As Cummins Inc. prepares to begin full production of its X15N engine in Busti next year, the fuel agnostic engine is getting a field test by one of the engine’s first committed buyers.

Phoenix, Arizona-based, Knight Transportation Inc., part of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. and the industry’s largest full truckload company, has been testing Cummins’ new X15N natural gas engine in southern California — realizing nitrogen oxides and greenhouse gas reductions without compromise to performance, according to Cummins officials.

Cummins is investing $452 million into the 998,000 square foot Jamestown Engine Plant facility to produce the industry’s first fuel-agnostic internal combustion engine platform that leverages a range of lower carbon fuel types, including natural gas, and is aligned with the company’s Destination Zero strategy. More than half of medium- and heavy-duty trucks on the road in the United States use Cummins engines, and the X15N is part of the new fuel-agnostic 15-liter engine platform.

“Our relationship with the Knight Transportation family goes back more than 30 years with a rich history of partnering through field tests of new technologies and features. The feedback in the development process is invaluable to the products long-term success for our customers. The suite of integrated Cummins technologies used on these trucks from engine, aftertreatment, and fuel storage to transmission, axles and the digital features that pull them all together in their most optimized form demonstrates the value of our next generation of product to our customers,” said Jose Samperio, vice president of North American on-highway business at Cummins Inc.

The Knight Transportation test truck is fueled exclusively with ultra-low carbon renewable natural gas anchored by Clean Energy’s station in Carson, Calif.

“Our customers rely on us to deliver a wide range of loads critical to their businesses,” said Dave Williams, Knight-Swift Transportation’s senior vice president of equipment and government relations. “We must ensure we are utilizing the most reliable and efficient technologies possible that help us reduce our carbon footprint.”

Knight Swift’s goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions generated from its fleet by 50% by 2035.

“We value our collaboration with Cummins and are encouraged by what we have seen so far with the 15L renewable natural gas technology. We will continue to work together to make sure that the capabilities and economics associated with this technology allow us to meet the wide- ranging needs of our fleet,” Williams said.

Coming to market in 2024, the Cummins X15N natural gas engine delivers diesel-like ratings as well as durability and reliability to allow fleets to significantly reduce their carbon footprint without sacrificing capability. The X15N offers the industry a solution toward achieving their sustainability goals, including the ability to run on renewable natural gas. The field testing with Knight-Swift will continue through full production of the X15N powertrain in 2024.