Trucksales Innovation Award 2023: The Winner

Cummins was our judges’ unanimous choice for the 2023 Trucksales Innovation Award. The global engine maker’s fuel-agnostic engine program promises to make it easy for truck makers to suit combustion engines to different countries’ fuel preferences.

The global heavyweight is investing billions in electric vehicle developments, because the company is in the power business and will supply whatever technology the market demands. However, Cummins is also investing heaps in improving sustainability and reducing the emissions of combustion engines.

Cummins is pursuing a dual-path approach by reducing emissions from internal combustion engines while simultaneously investing in new, zero-emissions products. The company spends approximately US$1billion per year on the research and development of future technologies.

The firm’s approach incorporates well-to-wheels emissions reductions, by matching technology readiness to infrastructure readiness and affordability.

It’s obvious to us that electrification is coming to Australia and trials of battery-electric trucks have shown that they’re ideal for metropolitan pick-up and delivery work – so-called last-mile vocations. They’ll also work well in short-haul tipping, agitator and refuse collection work.

What’s also obvious is that Australia’s uniquely heavy and fast multi-combination long-distance vehicles are totally unsuited to battery-electric operation, without extensive and expensive recharging or battery-swap infrastructure.

Fuel cells may be the solution, but they’re years away from commercialisation and the hydrogen that powers them requires even more infrastructure than do battery vehicles.

However, the demand from people and governments for reduced transport emissions may be met by clean, renewable fuels.

That’s where Cummins’ fuel-agnostic engine family comes into the equation. Cummins’ fuel agnostic platform is a range of diesel, natural gas and hydrogen internal combustion engines derived from a common base.

We’ve written about the Mercedes-Benz Atego truck that’s powered by a Cummins B6.7H hydrogen engine. This truck was the first fruit of a deal signed with Daimler Truck in 2021, for future engine co-operation between Cummins and Daimler.

Cummins claimed the H2-ICE truck retained the performance and payload of a diesel-powered truck and used a conventional driveline, offering a lower-cost technology path to fleet decarbonisation.

The next agnostic engine release was the X15H hydrogen-fuel engine, in September 2022, fitted with a spark-ignition cylinder head that could be replaced by a different spark-ignition head for use with bio-gas fuel, or with a compression-ignition head for use with hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) fuels.

Related reading:
Cummins shows multiple-fuel engines at IAA
What's happening in diesel engines?
Trucksales Safety Award 2023: The Winner

Cummins points out that this technology reduces emissions in products with which OEMs, fleet managers and operators are already familiar.

As well as the option to further reduce emissions with low- and zero-carbon fuels, renewable natural gas and hydrogen, the agnostic-engine platform offers OEMs common engine architecture across multiple fuel types with a high degree of parts commonality.

That’s why the Cummins agnostic-fuel engine family has won the Trucksales Innovation Award for 2023.