Cummins ready for growth of Accelera business
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowCummins Inc. has been churning out engines for more than 100 years, fueling the Columbus area economy and in the automotive industry—everything from pickups to heavy duty trucks to big earth-moving and mining machines to school buses and delivery trucks.
The next chapter of innovation for the manufacturer is emerging with Accelera by Cummins, which was announced as the new brand for the company’s zero emissions business unit earlier this year.
“It’s absolutely not lost than us that where we built the first Cummins diesel engines is where we’re building the first Accelera systems and batteries,” said John O’Brien, BEV system & customer engineering leader for Cummins.
Batteries, electric motors, powertrain systems, electrolyzers are some of the new zero emissions products that represent the future for Cummins strategy aimed at decarbonizing heavy industry.
Morgan Andreae, executive director of technology and product planning for Cummins, says a key part of the company’s investment in these new technology areas is hydrogen.
“It’s both in terms of pieces of equipment that can use the hydrogen to make zero emissions electricity, like fuel cells, but also in electrolyzers, which take electricity and water and make clean hydrogen,” Andreae said.
Hydrogen is seen as the rising star of Cummins’ zero emissions portfolio. The company recently unveiled the first hydrogen powered passenger train in North America, a partnership with a French company powered by hydrogen fuel cells made in Canada.
The company last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding to produce and test zero-carbon concrete mixer trucks using hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines.
O’Brien noted that there will be a transition for the company’s employees to work on these new technologies but there are a lot of transferrable skills among the assembly workforce. He adds the company plans to increase its output as demand increases.
“Accelera has very aggressive growth targets to keep up with our customers, decarbonisation needs,” he said from the company’s Columbus Engine Plant. “And so over time, we will be expanding throughout this plant and across other facilities across Cummins.”
The recent designation of a Midwest coalition that includes Indiana as a federal hydrogen hub and the state’s increasing new energy profile are viewed as potential positives as Accelera begins its ascent.
“If you look at what’s necessary to sort of transition to zero emissions, it’s really a whole ecosystem,” Andreae said. “It’s not just one product. You have a lot of different pieces, but we have all of those pieces here in Indiana. We’ve got all the right ingredients. So it’s exciting.”