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During a ceremony at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Long Beach on Monday, representatives from the California Natural Gas Vehicle Partnership, Kenworth Truck Company and AJR Trucking announced the first near-zero emission 12-liter natural gas truck in Los Angeles.

During the expo, Jack and Chris Khudikyan of the mail delivery trucking fleet, AJR Trucking, received the keys to the first natural gas truck for the Cummins Westport 12-liter.

After the ACT Expo, the Kenworth T680 will go into service delivering mail from Santa Clarita to Los Angeles International Airport. About 19 more T680s with the new 12-liter Cummins Westport engines will be delivered within the next few weeks and placed into service to help clean up Southern California’s transportation corridors.

It is the only engine to be 90 percent cleaner than current federal EPA emission standards, according to officials.

Proposition 1B—which funds projects that reduce emissions from goods movement operations by helping eligible fleet owners replace their old diesel trucks—funded the 12-liter truck.

“Our customers have requested a 12-liter compressed natural gas (CNG) powered Kenworth truck,” said spokesperson Kurt Swihart. “This is a game changer in bringing to market a 400 horsepower engine for vocational and regional use, and we’re proud to be the first truck original equipment manufacturer to present keys to a customer.”

According to officials, AJR Trucking has also been testing a “pre-commercial” CNG equipped Kenworth T680 for about a year now.

The Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) worked alongside with AJR Trucking to submit 46 Prop 1B applications and assist the trucking company with obtaining funds to purchase the Kenworth T680s.

When near-zero emission trucks are fueled by renewable natural gas, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be reduced by 60 to 400 percent, according to their press release. Sixty percent of natural gas fleets in California are fueled with renewable natural gas and this number is expected to climb to about 90 percent by the end of this year.