GLOBAL SUPERPOWER
Diesel is likely to be in the lifeblood of the majority of Heritage Commercials readers. That being the case, all the talk about the death of piston engines and the battery powered future leaves us feeling decidedly flat.
JCB is working on a hydrogen fuelled version of a diesel engine. But is the Staffordshire-based international construction plant manufacturer swimming against the tide? That would not be an unreasonable conclusion, given that media coverage generally presents the Government as being hell bent on road transport being taken over by battery electrics and fuel cell units.
So – encouraging news for piston heads: surprising though it may seem, the Government is actively backing internal combustion engine development.
With a dollop of UK Government funding support, the Cummins facility in Darlington is a main participant in the group’s hydrogen fuelled internal combustion engine (H2-ICE) development programme.
Although the Cummins badge on radiator grills was seen less and less often as, one by one, British-owned builders of medium/heavy commercials fell by the wayside, the US-parented group continues to be a pillar of the UK’s motive power industry.
The highly automated Darlington plant typically manufactures 65,000 engines a year, many for export. Together with engines for buses and coaches, Euro VI compliant units in 3.8-, 4.5- and 6.7-litre
