A consortium led by Cummins and focused on the decarbonization of heavy-duty powertrains has announced that its project has gained funding from the UK government TRIDENT scheme. This will enable Cummins and its partners to bring additional engineers and resources on board to accelerate the development of new air handling technologies for hybrid and fuel cell powertrains.
The collaborative project between Cummins, the University of Bath, Holtex and Aeristech aims to reduce CO2 emissions and improve air quality by creating a UK supply chain for the next generation of heavy-duty turbochargers.
“The funding that Cummins and our partners received from the Advanced Propulsion Centre is critical to helping us deliver CO2 and fuel consumption improvements across a variety of power solutions,” said Brett Fathauer, executive director, research and engineering for Cummins Turbo Technologies. “Additionally, we expect to accelerate our development of air handling technologies for hybrid and fuel cell powertrains by three years, as we continue our focus on developing and offering technologies that are better for our customers, the environment and our communities.”
The TRIDENT project supports the UK’s CO2 reduction capabilities and the ongoing global commitment to halving global emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“Working with Cummins in a partnership of this caliber is an outstanding opportunity to use our electric motor technologies in next-generation powertrains for hydrogen-fuel cell-powered vehicles,” explained Duncan Kerr, CEO of Aeristech. “Our technologies deliver the high performance and efficiency needed to increase the power output of the fuel cell by forcing air into the fuel cell engine using an electrically driven turbocharger. These hydrogen fuel cell systems are zero emission and we’re delighted to be working with Cummins to jointly develop new green technology solutions.”
By utilizing cutting-edge developments in major components and subsystems across the mechanical and e-machines sectors, the group aims to create an energy recovery platform that delivers CO2 and fuel consumption improvements across a variety of sustainable power solutions.