Cummins Commits More than $1B to Cleaner-Air Projects

Cummins, long one of the world’s largest makers of diesel engines, is spending more than $1 billion to diversify its product portfolio and develop different zero-emission fuels with the help of the new Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

The investment will provide upgrades to Cummins factories in Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina and New York state to support the industry’s first fuel-agnostic engine platforms that will run on low-carbon fuels, including natural gas, diesel and eventually hydrogen, Cummins President and CEO Jennifer Rumsey says.

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Through a series of acquisitions, including the $3.7 billion takeover of Troy, MI-based Meritor in August 2022, Cummins now is getting involved in supplying hybrid, hydrogen and electric powertrains as well diesel engines, analysts note.

Meritor is a leading global supplier of drivetrain, mobility, braking, aftermarket and electric powertrain solutions for commercial vehicle and industrial markets. It recently secured new orders for engines from truck builders such as Hino and Daimler.

Rumsey says the new round of investments by Cummins are intended to help retain thousands of current engineering and manufacturing jobs and support the creation of hundreds of new jobs as the company accelerates its decarbonization efforts.

Cummins plans to invest $452 million in its Jamestown Engine Plant in western New York to upgrade the 998,000 sq.-ft. (92,720 sq.-m) factory to produce the industry’s first fuel-agnostic internal-combustion-engine platform that leverages a range of reduced-carbon fuels.

The fuel-agnostic engine can be made in varying displacements. It has the same bottom end but different top ends, depending on whether it is using diesel, natural gas, hydrogen – “propane, gasoline, anything you can really burn, according to a presentation by Cummins executives at a recent conference organized by Barclays Bank. 

Cummins customers including Walmart, Werner and National Ready Mix, among others, this month will begin field-testing the 15.0L X15N engines using the fuel-agnostic platform. The Walmart trucks will be fueled by renewable natural gas.

In Fridley, MN, Cummins’ zero-emission technology brand, Accelerata, will soon manufacture electrolyzers (pictured, below), which are a critical piece of the “green hydrogen” economy, thanks to a $10 million investment.

Cummins hydrogen Electrolyzer

Hydrogen produced by electrolyzers can power hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles and is used in industrial processes such as steel production. Building electrolyzers in Fridley is helping bring the supply chain for zero-emissions vehicles to the U.S. – particularly in heavy trucking industries – and providing good-paying jobs for hundreds of workers, Cummins says.

The Cummins Power Systems factory in Fridley has more than 900 employees. Of its 1.1 million sq.-ft. (102,190 sq.-m), 89,000 sq.-ft. (8,270 sq.-m) will be dedicated to electrolyzer production.

“Support from the Biden Admin. and Congress with legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act are driving the clean energy economy forward in the United States and are critical to our decarbonization efforts,” Rumsey says.

“The historic investments included in those pieces of legislation played a key role in our decision to manufacture products here in the U.S., creating more clean-tech jobs and positively impacting our communities,” she says.