During a press conference at the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, Ohio, Cummins pulled the curtain back on its next-generation engine family, the 15-liter X15 (available in two configurations) and the 12-liter X12 heavy-duty diesel engines. Both engines build off the legacy of Cummins’ ISX platform and offer a variety of design and performance improvements depending on the model.
With the announcement, Cummins also said the new engines are ready to exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2017 greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency standards.
Even without the looming regulations, the engine launch is perfect timing for Cummins, a company whose dominant grip on market share has slipped in recent years as proprietary integrated engine-transmission packages from truck OEMs have taken a bite out of the engine maker’s business. Cummins answered with its own optimized platform, partnering with Eaton in 2013 to launch the SmartAdvantage powertrain package.
With its new X series platform, Cummins introduces its future heavy duty engine lineup aimed to retain fleets and owner-operators who prefer red engines under their hoods and woo back those who went the OEM route in their last purchase cycle.
Lean or mean
While the ISX platform has only one 15-liter starting option, the X series offers two: The fuel-sipping X15 Efficiency Series geared toward line-haul and regional markets, and the X15 Performance Series, built specifically for heavy-haul, vocational and other demanding applications.
Cummins made several hardware changes to improve performance on the X15 Performance engine, including a high-flow EGR cooler and piston cooling nozzles and exhaust valves to improve reliability. The X15 Performance Series boasts from 485 to 605 horsepower, torque ratings from up to 2,050 lb-ft, and as much as 600 braking horsepower.
