Sources: Cummins Inc., Columbus, Ind.; CP staff
Sculptured block design, attributable to casting and engineering improvements that place iron where it is most needed, plus high-strength composites for oil pan and valve cover, have netted a 12-liter engine at 2,050 lbs., nearly 600 lbs. lighter than Cummins’ current ISX12. The X12 will debut in 2018 with the Single Module exhaust aftertreatment chamber, which weighs 40 percent less than the ISX series’ three-component, switch back-style assembly.
“During the design process for the X12, we evaluated every opportunity to reduce size and lower weight, but importantly, we achieved this with no compromise to structural strength, so that our next-generation 12-liter comes with all the durability associated with a Cummins Heavy-Duty engine,” said Vice President – Engineering Jim Fier at a late-July unveiling, staged within the 4,500-acre Transportation Research Center, East Liberty, Ohio. “[The X12 will] provide our OEM partners a compact yet capable engine—an ideal fit for shorter-nose conventional cabs.”
With the highest power-to-weight ratio of any engine in the 10-to-16-liter class, Cummins contends, the X12 enables vocational and regional-haul trucks to operate at maximum payload with lower fuel consumption and more responsive driving than previously experienced from a comparably sized engine. The X12 is rated at 350 to 475 hp with 1,700-lb.-ft. peak torque at 1,000 rpm, which remains available to over 1,400 rpm to reduce the need for gear shifting and exhibit better low-speed lugging on grades. It will enter full production in 2018, following an extensive field-test program to include concrete mixer, aggregate dump and other vocational vehicles. The ISX12 with current exhaust package will remain with 2017 model year trucks, while the ISX12 G continues as Cummins’ heavy-duty, compressed natural gas power platform.
Ahead of the new 12-liter product, Cummins has scheduled 2017 availability of the two other Heavy-Duty Engine offerings announced at the Transportation Research Center: the X15 Performance Series (485 hp to 605 hp, 2,050-lb.-ft. peak torque) and X15 Efficiency Series (400 hp to 500 hp, 1,850-lb.-ft. peak torque). Both ISX15 successors will comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2017 greenhouse gas emissions targets for heavy-duty trucks.