Achates Power has announced that the heavy-duty diesel engine it developed in a project funded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and several partners has entered fleet service with Walmart in a Peterbilt 579 tractor.

It is the only diesel engine, Achates says, operating on the road capable of meeting CARB’s 2027 regulation, which requires a 90 percent reduction in emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) compared to current standards.

The project team also demonstrated that the engine, known as a heavy-duty opposed-piston diesel engine, reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) by 10 percent. The Achates Power ultra-low-NOx engine is engineered to achieve superior fuel efficiency because of its lower heat losses, improved combustion and reduced pumping losses, the company says. The engine is able to deliver ultra-low NOx by managing exhaust gas temperatures to ensure rapid catalyst light off and by maintaining aftertreatment temperatures at optimum operating conditions in all driving conditions.

CALSTART leads the extensive demonstration project team. The team includes Aramco Americas, BASF, Corning, Southwest Research Institute, Borg Warner, Eaton, Faurecia, Tenneco, Eberspaecher, and SuperTurbo.

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This article originally appeared in Construction Equipment April 19, 2022