Cummins and Isuzu to collaborate on prototype electric truck

Cummins, the company known best for its diesel engines, just announced a partnership with Isuzu to “create a prototype medium-duty, battery electric truck” for North America.

Exploration of electric powertrains isnÂ’t totally new for Cummins, as itÂ’s talked about a transition to electric since 2017. In fact, Cummins even revealed a battery-powered truck back then, too. This electric truck with Isuzu is new, though, and itÂ’s going to put the Cummins PowerDrive6000 powertrain into IsuzuÂ’s F-Series truck that you can see in the photo above.

Cummins does not detail specs for its PowerDrive6000, but weÂ’ve seen the drive unit used in a hybrid concept from Cummins previously. It provided 50 miles of electric range when the battery pack in that truck was full, but with this being a full battery electric vehicle, we suspect that Cummins and Isuzu are using a much larger battery pack for more range. We donÂ’t have any vital specs like range or power, but we suspect those will come at a later date.

This year will see Isuzu and Cummins put the truck through a pilot and demonstration phase in North American fleets. After that’s been completed — assuming it is successful — the partnership could see Isuzu and Cummins collaborate on building battery electric trucks for commercial use here in North America.

“We are excited to be working with Isuzu to accelerate decarbonization within the partnership,” said Amy Davis, Vice President and President of New Power at Cummins. “It’s through our joint commitment in innovation that we provide our customers with safe, reliable zero-emissions solutions.”

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By Zac Palmer