Written by / Ma Xiaolei
Editor/ Qian Yaguang
Design / Zhao Haoran
Source/ thedetroitbureau, by Joseph Szczesny
In the process of electrification of the automotive industry, there is another sign of accelerated development: Cummins and Isuzu, the two largest diesel engine manufacturers, plan to cooperate to produce an electric truck prototype in 2022.
Cummins of the United States and Isuzu of Japan announced an agreement that the two sides plan to jointly develop a prototype of an electric medium-duty heavy-duty truck and test it in North America.
According to the agreement, the prototype truck is the first zero-emission solution developed by Isuzu and Cummins in a powertrain partnership, which was established in May 2019.
Powertrain partners
Isuzu plans to use its FTR trucks in the U.S. as the basis for an electric partnership with Cummins
"We are excited to partner with Isuzu to accelerate decarbonization in the partnership." Amy Davis, vice president and president of Cummins and president of New Dynamics, said, "It is because of our shared commitment to innovation that we will provide our customers with safe, reliable, zero-emission solutions." ”
Koichi Seto, director and senior executive of Isuzu's board of directors, said the project is in line with Isuzu's Environmental Vision 2050, which calls for Isuzu to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the joint announcement of the two companies, Cummins will integrate the company's PowerDrive 6000 electric drive system into Isuzu's F-Series trucks and pilot it in a well-known North American fleet starting in 2022.
Following a successful demonstration and pilot phase, Isuzu will look for opportunities to commercialize electric medium-duty heavy-duty trucks equipped with Cummins Powertrains throughout North America.
Cummins hydrogen fuel cell truck
Isuzu and Cummins are entering the arena of competition with GM's BrightDrop, Stellantis, Ford, and others
Cummins, the king of diesel engines, did not stay out of the electrification revolution. It has been developing a fuel cell for heavy-duty trucks, including cement transport trucks and dump trucks.
"As part of achieving carbon neutrality, it makes a lot of sense for us to launch this joint pure electric prototype project in North America. Through the partnership, we commit to continue to explore more possibilities for the next generation of power sources, including electric powertrain technologies beyond existing powertrain collaborations. Geng Yi said.
More than just battery-powered systems, Cummins is tackling the challenge of zero emissions in many ways.
In 2020, it began working with Navistar International to accelerate the development of Class 8 trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The project is funded in part by a $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's "H2@Scale" program to develop economically viable hydrogen energy production, storage, distribution, and use.
FedEx EV600▼
In addition, Cummins released a heavy-duty truck with both fuel cell and battery power in 2019. Executives said at the time that the company's strategy was to provide customers with a rich power mix in the future, including diesel, natural gas, hybrid, battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell solutions.
The announcement comes as truckmakers such as GM, Ford and Stallantis are stepping up production of electric commercial vehicles to meet the demand for package delivery services operated by other businesses such as Amazon, UPS, FedEx and others.
Stellantis is an old partner of Cummins, which has been supplying ram with diesel engines for years, and in January, Stellantis announced that it would build hundreds of electric commercial vans for Amazon.