Hexagon Agility Plans January Expansion to Meet X15N Demand
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NEW ORLEANS — Hexagon Agility plans to expand its manufacturing capacity early next year to meet anticipated demand for Cummins’ upcoming X15N natural gas-fueled engine, an executive at the fuel system supplier said March 4.
Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Hexagon Agility, which manufactures the pressurized cylinders and fueling systems required by natural gas-powered engines, plans to expand production of the composite cylinders that hold the gas to two sites, Executive Vice President of Sales and Systems Development Eric Bippus told Transport Topics.
Manufacturing of the cylinders currently takes place in Lincoln, Neb., but from January onward, Hexagon expects to begin production in Salisbury, N.C., too, he said on the sidelines of the 2024 Technology & Maintenance Council Annual Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibition.
The Salisbury site currently manufactures the fuel systems and assembles the finished product using cylinders from Nebraska but will add composite cylinder manufacturing as orders for the X15N start to expand from truck makers.
Bippus
Limited production of the X15N is set to begin at Cummins’ Jamestown, N.Y., engine plant later in March, and full production will start in July, a spokeswoman for the Columbus, Ind.-based company said March 2.
Meanwhile, serial production of Kenworth T680 tractors as well as T880 work trucks with an X15N engine is scheduled to start in mid-2024, a spokeswoman for the Paccar unit said.
Hexagon offers offline installation for Kenworth and Peterbilt rigs, said Bippus, but the systems are factory-installed by Volvo Trucks North America, Mack Trucks and Daimler Truck North America’s Freightliner brand.
Cummins’ introduction of the X15N is a major step forward for the use of natural gas in Class 8 tractors, Bippus said.
Michelle Scholl was the obvious choice to lead our current Salisbury, North Carolina expansion project. Hear from her on how her role at Hexagon Agility has grown and how she finds opportunities to improve our manufacturing processes every day. #AccelerateProgress #IWD24 pic.twitter.com/RSc5UBwk5x — Hexagon Agility (@AgilityFuel) March 5, 2024
The X15N ups the horsepower for natural gas-powered trucks to 500 hp from 400 hp, he said, noting that 12-liter natural gas engines can only meet the needs of 100,000 of the roughly 250,000 new Class 8 trucks sold each year.
Hexagon believes 20% of the heavy-duty truck market will always need the power that only a diesel or natural gas-fueled truck can provide, Bippus said.
A close-up of dials on a Hexagon Agility CNG tank. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)
Also, a truck with Hexagon’s largest natural gas-fueling system offers a range of 1,200 miles, meeting all the needs of longhaul over-the-road customers, Bippus told TT, unlike battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks.
“The best alternative fuel solution that can be deployed at scale and with the same drivers and service technicians fleets currently have is natural gas — renewable natural gas and compressed natural gas,” he said.
There were 1,680 natural gas filling stations in the U.S. at the start of 2024.
“Natural gas has two decades of head start on filling stations” at a time when electric and hydrogen fueling infrastructure for Class 8 trucks is in its infancy, Bippus added.
More than 70,000 natural gas vehicles of various types and sizes are already on the road using Hexagon cylinders, including over 4,000 Class 8 trucks operated by UPS Inc.
A UPS truck powered by compressed natural gas. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)
Bippus said Hexagon supplies some 80% of the North American RNG/CNG/liquefied natural gas cylinder market.
Hexagon Agility is a unit of Oslo, Norway-listed Hexagon Composites. The parent company evolved from weaving wool to making composite cylinders. Hexagon Agility’s sister company, Hexagon Purus, focuses on zero-emission solutions, be that hydrogen fuel cells, battery-electric vehicles or internal combustion engines powered by natural gas or hydrogen. At a plant in Westminster, Md., Hexagon Purus manufactures hydrogen cylinders.
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