Private companies like Cummins are rushing to meet the government’s demands for energy efficient vehicles – but they need government to fulfill its end of the equation, too.
Tom Linebarger, Cummins CEO, said during a conference call last week that the company continues to work hard on its transition from diesel engines to hybrid engines that don’t emit any carbon dioxide. While Cummins is working with its customers to meet changing government requirements, the company is also waiting on government to help provide needed infrastructure.
And, while some politicians are setting only a 2035 goal to switch from gas-powered engines to electric engines, Linebarger said the actual transition is much more complicated. During testimony before a Congressional committee earlier this year, Tony Satterthwaite, Cummins vice president, said there are environmental benefits that can be achieved today with existing technologies such as advanced diesel and natural gas engines as the infrastructure develops for low- and no-carbon powertrains.
“We will need other investments by governments and other things to get that done,” Linebarger said. “So in the meantime, these interim solutions are going to play a significant role. And how long interim is isn’t clear, and it could be extended. So our view is that natural gas and hybrid and some of these other technologies that we have will really help our customers get through those periods, which, again, could be – we could sell across our range of one billion engines in those ranges before — transition could be one billion engines. I mean it’s a lot of engines over the years, right, across the entire industry, across multi-year. So it’s really important to be thoughtful about those transition technologies just like it is the final solutions.”
To see the full story from John Whittaker in the Post-Journal in Jamestown, N.Y., click here.
Satterthwaite advocated for hydrogen fuels during his congressional testimony, particularly the need for hydrogen fueling stations in the country and government investments in renewable hydrogen technologies. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center, there are only 46 such fueling stations in the United States, and one of those is in Hawaii.