Werner Enterprises, a transportation and logistics provider announced on 7 Sept that it has signed a letter of intent with global power solutions provider Cummins to buy 500 Cummins’ 15-litre hydrogen internal combustion engines. 

This comes following an agreement between the two companies earlier this year to validate and integrate Cummins’ 15-liter natural gas and Cummins’ X15 hydrogen engines. 

Warner seeks to bolster its sustainability efforts, cut 55% of its greenhouse gases by 2035 through securing this deal with Cummins. Werner’s Chairman, President and CEO Derek Leathers, also hopes to meet the increasing demand for environmentally friendly options. 

“Our customers are showing increased interest in more sustainable choices in the marketplace, and we see significant potential in utilizing Cummins’ fuel agnostic platform to continue the momentum toward reducing our carbon footprint.”

“We are pleased to see the leadership of customers like Werner Enterprises, who are exploring solutions like our fuel agnostic platform to help their own customers. 

“The future will include many solutions to help customers decarbonize, and we believe hydrogen internal combustion engines will play an important role,” said Brett Merritt, Vice President On-Highway Engine Business, Cummins Inc.

The advantages provided by hydrogen engines compared to alternative systems is that they offer the adaptability of continuing to use mechanical drivelines with vehicle and equipment integration. 

Significant reuse of parts and components from Cummins’ existing platforms drives scale advantages on cost and is also projected to deliver reliability and durability equal to diesel.

Hydrogen engines can use zero-carbon green hydrogen fuel, produced by Cummins manufactured electrolysers. 

The projected global investment in hydrogen will provide growing opportunities to deploy hydrogen powered fleets. 

Cummins also announced on 8 Sept that it will scale-up its PEM electrolyser capacity at its Oevel, Belgium factory to 1 GW. The expansion will be supported by the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) to power large-scale hydrogen production systems.