While the spotlight was on its combustion technology at its stand at IAA Transportation 2024 – held between 17-22 September in Hanover, Germany – American powertrain manufacturer Cummins Inc also had a lot to say about its alternative offerings, now grouped under the name of ‘Accelera’. Informally, the Accelera brand covers all “the electric stuff”, while the legacy engine components, together with the non-electric axle, braking, and suspension products acquired from Meritor, retain the Cummins name. However, Cummins envisages that, eventually, the “electric stuff” will become the core of its business.

Cummins used the IAA to launch the next-generation heavy-duty on-highway diesel X10 engine.

In July, American powertrain manufacturer, Cummins Inc, opened a new test facility at its engine plant in Darlington in the northeast of England, with the attendance of T&BB and other members of the trade press. The company has carried out engine testing at Darlington for many years, but the new facility represents a definitive change in approach to product development and evaluation. While the older test cells are solely designed to assess engines, the new facility can accommodate an entire truck or bus for whole vehicle testing. Moreover, the building which houses the new facility is specifically made to safely test gas and hydrogen combustion vehicles.

The companies have successfully completed field tests of the new Cummins X15N 15-litre natural gas engine in combination with Allison’s 4000 Series fully automatic transmission. The results showed significant improvements in fuel efficiency, engine braking, and power during shifting, making the combination ideal for heavy-duty operations.

The two companies began their engine collaboration in 2019 when they signed the 'Isuzu Cummins Powertrain Partnership'.

At a Venture Logistics facility in the Midwest, the project partners will test a 500-kW charging system with two Class 8 battery electric trucks to see what benefits wireless charging could bring to goods transportation.

The test took place on a North American highway in Q4 2023 over 19,312 kilometres with fully loaded comparison trucks. The test ran with and without cylinder deactivation active via a dashboard switch.

Established in 1974, the Jamestown Engine Plant is located outside the village of Lakewood, on the western edge of Jamestown, New York.

Located in Byhalia, a town located in Marshall County (just on the Mississippi-Tennessee border near Memphis), the five-hundred-acre site will accommodate a two-million-square-foot plant by 2027.

Approximately 360,000 square feet of the existing plant, which measures 1.42m square feet, will be given over to the ‘Accelera’ zero emission brand.

Jointly developed by the two companies, the engine will be integrated into Isuzu’s new medium-duty truck range. The engine is set to go into series production in Q4 2024, at Isuzu’s engine plant in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.

The BP97E is a high-energy-density battery pack and is the latest development in Accelera’s NMC battery platform.