TICO Launches CNG Pilot Tractor Powered by PSI 8.8-Liter Engine

TICO Manufacturing and Power Solutions International (PSI) announced that PSI’s 8.8-liter CNG engine will power a new terminal tractor prototype being tested by TICO. TICO displayed the CNG prototype, which is already in service with plans for additional pilot testing, at the 2017 TMC Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition in Nashville, Tennessee, from February 27 to March 2.

The prototype fits within TICO’s larger program to develop and expand the company’s portfolio of alternative-fuel terminal tractors. As part of that effort, TICO has worked closely with its customer UPS to develop competitively-priced alternative fuel vehicles to expand future fleet options to achieve the package delivery leader’s sustainability goals. The CNG prototype, currently in pilot testing, is a product of this collaboration.

“The increasing costs and complexity associated with meeting diesel emissions is helping the shift to offer gasoline and alternative fuel engines,” said Frank Tubbert, TICO’s General Manager. “We also wanted, in large part, to offer the customer more choices and to focus on clean air as a major policy objective.”

The CNG-fueled terminal tractor is the latest product of the partnership between TICO and PSI, which began in 2016 when the two companies joined forces on designs to integrate customized gasoline and alternative-fuel engines into TICO’s Pro-Spotter terminal tractors.