Westport teams with Delphi to develop natural gas fuel injectors

VANCOUVER—Canada’s Westport Innovations Inc. is teaming up with an English automotive technology firm to commercialize a natural gas fuel injector system for use in heavy trucks.

According to Westport, it will work with Delphi Automotive PLC to help bring the Vancouver-based firm’s High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) technology to market.

“Delphi’s support for natural gas fuel systems and Westport HPDI means having an integrated and dedicated manufacturing partner to develop and produce components that will help create a landmark product with industry defining pricing, quality and performance characteristics for global engine OEMs,” Westport chief executive David Demers said in a release.

Under the agreement, Westport and Delphi will combine intellectual property and engineering to jointly develop and manufacture the high-pressure natural gas fuel injectors.

Westport said it will invest in equipment for the project, including tooling, manufacturing and testing components for use at Delphi’s global production facilities.

For its end of the deal, Delphi will provide engineering and injector designers to work with Westport’s team to optimize design, development, manufacturing and assembly of the injectors.

Based on current OEM projections, Delphi and Westport are expecting annual production capacity of more than 100,000 injectors within the next four years.

Intellectual property rights stemming from the program will be jointly owned by two firms and maintained by Westport.

“Delphi sees natural gas as an important part of mainstream transportation and believes that Westport HPDI will be the industry standard technology for natural gas-powered heavy-duty applications,” Delphi chief technology officer Jeff Owens said.

“Working with Westport to create a highly scalable, quality production partnership and reduce system pricing for HPDI is a great opportunity to help change the trucking world.”