Business & Tech

Lynnfield Co. Signs Agreements For Vehicle Conversion Initiative

Greenman Technologies of Lynnfield helps convert vehicles to natural gas.

The following is an announcement from Lynnfield-based Greenman Technologies:

GreenMan Technologies, Inc. announced that its American Power Group, Inc. (APG) subsidiary has signed agreements with Valley Truck Parts (Valley Truck) and the University of Houston Texas Diesel Testing and Research Center (UH-TDTRC) for required testing to commence dual fuel upgrades of intermediate useful life (IUL) heavy-duty engines in the United States. The testing will be performed in accordance with the Intermediate Age requirements of the EPA Clean Alternative Fuel Vehicle and Engine Conversion Final Rule as amended in April 2011 which requires engines to be tested outside of the vehicle on an engine dynamometer.

Valley Truck, our regional Authorized Dealer and Certified Installer located in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area is a fifty-eight year old company specializing in remanufacturing and repairing of heavy-duty trucks. Valley Truck will be responsible for securing and delivering the targeted IUL engines to UH-TDTRC for testing.

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APG will conduct the required testing utilizing UH-TDTRC's test facility and heavy-duty engine dynamometer under the terms of a twelve-month agreement. Within the next eight to ten weeks, the university will complete the upgrade to their facility for natural gas testing and procure additional emission analysis equipment. APG and UH-TDTRC are targeting September 2012 to begin formal testing and expect to test nine to fifteen engine families during the initial term of the agreement with a goal of securing the first EPA IUL approval before the end of the calendar year.

Lyle Jensen, GreenMan's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "The IUL addressed market is comprised of heavy-duty trucks with engines two model years old or older and less than 435,000 miles. Many of the larger corporate fleets fall in this addressed market due to their ability to frequently replenish their fleets with newer trucks. Based on market data from Power Systems Research, we believe there are more than 400,000 trucks in the 2007 to 2010 model year age category that would be IUL conversion opportunities. We are currently talking with fleet owners who represent more than 60,000 trucks or approximately 15 percent of our estimated IUL available market and expect this number to increase given the proven economic and environmental benefits of our dual fuel solution. In addition to the IUL opportunity, the Outside Useful Life (OUL) addressed market is estimated to exceed an additional 500,000 candidate vehicles. APG currently has fifty-nine (59) OUL EPA engine family approvals with more on the way.

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Mr. Jensen added, "APG's V5000 Aftermarket Upgrade System is being referred to as a 'game-changing technology' in the natural gas vehicle market because it allows fleet owners to economically upgrade existing fleets to run on our natural gas dual fuel technology without compromising the power and torque of a diesel engine. Corporate fleets can install the APG system on their IUL vehicles and when they reach their fleet life cycle, the V5000 system can be transferred to another approved engine family. We anticipate heavy adoption of our aftermarket technology in the years to come as the CNG and LNG fill-station infrastructure continues to develop."

 


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