Werner Enterprises and Cummins Inc. announced Werner signed a letter of intent to purchase 500 Cummins’ 15-liter hydrogen internal combustion engines upon availability.

The two companies announced earlier this year that Werner Enterprises plans to validate and integrate Cummins’15-liter natural gas and Cummins’ X15H hydrogen engines, both part of Cummins’ fuel agnostic platform, into their fleet.

“At Werner, we’re committed to a 55 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 because we recognize the important role our sustainability efforts play,” said Derek Leathers, president/CEO at Werner. “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.”

Since announcing the fuel agnostic platform, which includes the hydrogen option in both the 15-liter and 6.7-liter displacements, Cummins has responded to customer interest globally about the potential of the platform and hydrogen in particular.

“Our fleet customers have shown tremendous enthusiasm for Hydrogen internal combustion engines, which we believe can be a breakthrough technology essential to reaching Destination Zero,” said Jim Nebergall, GM, Cummins hydrogen engine business.  “With enough interest, we believe we can manufacture this technology at scale yet this decade providing customers with an option that is a low initial cost, extended vehicle range, powertrain installation commonality, and end user familiarity.” 

Destination Zero is Cummins’ strategy to go further, faster to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) and air quality impacts of its products and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. 

Hydrogen engines can use zero-carbon green hydrogen fuel, produced by Cummins-manufactured electrolyzers. The projected investment in renewable hydrogen production globally will provide a growing opportunity for the deployment of hydrogen-powered fleets utilizing either Cummins fuel cell or engine power, according to Cummins.