Coinciding with a visit from US President Biden earlier this week to its plant in Fridley, Minnesota, Cummins has announced plans to invest more than US$1bn across its engine manufacturing network based in Indiana, North Carolina and New York, USA.
“In just a few weeks, we will begin manufacturing one of the key pieces of technology for green hydrogen production that will help decarbonize our economy and drive the clean energy transition – the electrolyzer,” said Jennifer Rumsey, Cummins president and CEO.
“Support from the Biden Administration and Congress with legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act are driving the clean energy economy forward in the United States and critical to our decarbonization efforts.”
The new investment will provide upgrades to the facilities to support the industry’s first fuel-agnostic engine platforms which will operate on low carbon fuels such as natural gas, diesel and, eventually, hydrogen.
“The electrolyzer production in Minnesota and investment in our Indiana, North Carolina and New York facilities are reflective of our dual path approach of advancing both engine-based and zero-emission solutions – an approach that is best for all of our stakeholders and our impact on the planet,” continued Rumsey. “We can’t do this alone and are grateful for the continued partnership and collaboration with congressional leaders and the Biden Administration.”
In addition to upgrading the facilities, Cummins seeks to retain thousands of current engineering and manufacturing jobs alongside creating new job at the New York, North Carolina and Indiana sites.
Cummins has previously outlined its plans to invest U$452m in the Jamestown Engine Plant (JEP) in Western New York, to upgrade the 998,000ft2 facility to manufacture the sector’s first fuel-agnostic internal combustion engine platform which uses a range of lower carbon fuel types. The X15N is part of the new fuel-agnostic 15-liter engine platform produced at JEP. Several Cummins customers – including Walmart, Werner and others – will be testing the very first engines of the fuel-agnostic platform, the X15N. Walmart is scheduled to receive the first field test unit during April 2023, so that it can take part in what is described as the industry’s first 15-liter advanced engine platform capable of running on renewable natural gas.
At the Fridley facility, Cummins’ zero-emission technology brand, Accelera by Cummins, will soon begin to manufacture electrolyzers, a vital piece of the green hydrogen economy. Hydrogen produced by electrolyzers can be used to power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and by building electrolyzers in Fridley, Cummins aims to support bringing the supply chain for zero-emissions vehicles to the USA.
The Cummins Power Systems factory, established in 1969, is a 1.1 million square feet full-service facility. Through a U$10m investment, Cummins plans to dedicate 89,000 square feet of the existing facility to electrolyzer production beginning in April 2024.