Bankrolled by $7.1 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), researchers at Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) are partnering with three organizations to advance natural gas technologies in the transportation sector.

transportation

SoCalGas plans to kick in another $730,000 for the projects. The Sempra Energy utility is partnering with Cummins Inc., the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and the West Virginia University (WVU) research corporation to expand fuel cell and near-zero emission natural gas technologies, along with reducing alternative fuel vehicle maintenance costs.

In conjunction with Cummins, SoCalGas plans to develop a single prototype zero-emission fuel cell design for hydrogen fuel cells to power heavy duty trucks and transit buses. Aiming for advances that...