Cummins-led hydrogen engine project lands £14.6 million grant

A project led by Cummins has been given £14.6 million to develop a hydrogen-fuelled engine for commercial transport at the company’s Darlington, England plant.

It is part of a package of almost £92 million combined UK government and industry funding which has been committed to various projects.

A project led by Cummins has been given £14.6 million to develop a hydrogen-fuelled engine for commercial transport at the company’s Darlington, England plant.

The Brunel project is headed by Cummins who will oversee a consortium of internal combustion engine (ICE) sub-system suppliers focussed on medium, and heavy-duty engines for trucks and construction equipment, according to the UK’s Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC).

The APC is a private limited company with a board of directors overseeing the investments made by the UK government and industry.

In a statement from the APC it added: “The project will make a major contribution to increasing UK self-reliance in the emerging hydrogen economy and a significant uplift in the UK sourced ICE supply chain. A key deliverable will be to demonstrate tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions can be virtually eliminated while retaining diesel-like levels of performance.”

Jonathan Atkinson, Executive Director of Cummins On-highway Business in Europe, said: “Confirmation of the strategic support awarded by APC is excellent news for Cummins and our world-class research and development facility in Darlington. This project will significantly accelerate the pace of hydrogen engine development, ensuring that the UK is in the vanguard of this exciting new technology which will play a significant part in decarbonising the global commercial vehicle fleet.

He added that the project “will maintain and upskill many hundreds of key technical jobs, not just at Cummins and our consortium partners but across our total supply base. In the mid-to-long term it offers major potential to expand our high-value export business, supplying hydrogen engines and sub-systems manufactured in the UK to customers around the world.”

In mid-July Cummins said Cummins it has started testing a hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engine as part of what it describes “another step forward in advancing zero carbon technology.”

It said that following the proof-of-concept testing, the company plans to evaluate the engine in a variety of on- and off-highway applications, supporting the company’s efforts to accelerate the decarbonization of commercial vehicles.

Cummins is investing across a range of technologies to support hydrogen-based transportation including hydrogen engines, fuel cells, electrolyzers and storage tanks.