A Sidney company anticipates a boost to its profile and bottom line with the introduction of a $1.4-million heavy-duty-vehicle efficiency program that will offer government incentives for commercial truckers to cut their emissions.
Empire Hydrogen has developed a fuel-enhancement system designed to clean the air, reduce fuel costs and improve engine wear.
The vehicle-efficiency program, to be administered by the sa国际传媒 Trucking Association, will pick up a portion of the cost of installing fuel-saving equipment in heavy-duty vehicles, while educating the industry on driving practices to reduce fuel usage and greenhouse-gas emissions.
According to the association, heavy-duty vehicles produce about 35 per cent of the province鈥檚 road-transportation greenhouse-gas emissions.
Andy Evans, Empire鈥檚 executive vice-president, said it鈥檚 been a challenge to get truckers to try the new technology. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited about getting truckers to look at things they haven鈥檛 considered before,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping with this program, with government spending half the money and the BCTA helping to introduce these products, [truckers] will say: 鈥榊eah, let鈥檚 give this a try.鈥� 鈥�
Empire鈥檚 self-contained system separates hydrogen and oxygen from distilled water and injects the elements into an engine鈥檚 air intake, making the fuel burn faster, more completely and more cleanly.
The system, which is already installed in more than 100 transport trucks, generators and boats, claims to extend mileage by as much as 20 per cent, reduce engine deposits and cut emissions.
Dave Earle, chief executive of the sa国际传媒 Trucking Association, said he will not be able to confirm which products are eligible for the incentives until next week, when the association puts the program and background material out to the industry.
But he said those products will need to already be in the marketplace and proven technology.
鈥淓verything in there is backed up by research. The program is designed to take what we know works and provide some help for companies to take that next step to adopt it and try it in their fleets,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 to take the sting out of adopting new technologies.鈥�
Earle said products that will be eligible include vehicle options such as adaptive cruise control, automated transmissions that use predictive terrain guidance, next-generation wide-based tires and proven hydrogen-burn technology.
鈥淭his is encouraging companies to try them,鈥� said Earle. 鈥淥ver the long term, these technologies will pay for themselves and they will become cheaper. If we can take the sting out of the cost, maybe they start to see that they will save money 鈥� and they may adopt it more widely.鈥�
To take advantage of the program, large carriers, fleet operators and individual operators who have a base in sa国际传媒 will take a free one-day course on fuel management before applying for project funding.
If approved, the companies will be reimbursed for up to half the cost of the new technology they have invested in.
Evans said typically, installing one of Empire鈥檚 units would cost about $7,500, and the system is usually expected to pay for itself in savings within six or seven months.
That payback time could be cut in half with the new program, he said, noting the company鈥檚 target customer spends more than $100,000 on fuel annually.
鈥淚 think this is a perfect example of how carbon taxes are supposed to work. It takes revenue from the carbon taxes and puts it into green technology that could significantly reduce greenhouse gases,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about selling hundreds of units to one fleet, but selling a couple of units to a whole bunch of fleets so they can test it out and decide for themselves if that鈥檚 what they want.鈥�
