Path beyond diesel engines hinges on demand: Cummins' Shveta Arya

Cummins manufactures heavy diesel engines for prominent Indian medium and heavy commercial vehicle makers, including Tata Motors

The path beyond diesel engines in India hinges on how automobile manufacturers evaluate the need for new powertrains based on their diverse requirements, such as operating conditions, performance expectations, duty cycles, affordability, and the availability of retail fuel infrastructure, Shveta Arya, India regional leader for Cummins, told Business Standard.

 

Cummins manufactures heavy diesel engines for leading Indian medium and heavy commercial vehicle makers such as Tata Motors. 

 

In September 2023, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had said the automobile industry must reduce the production of high carbon-emitting diesel vehicles. Otherwise, the government may consider imposing an additional 10 per cent goods and services tax (GST).

 

As major auto stocks tumbled in reaction, he clarified on the same day that no such proposal was under the government’s consideration. 

 

Arya, while talking to Business Standard at Bharat Mobility Global Expo, said: “Research in the diesel sector has gone on for over 100 years. Therefore, customers get performance and efficiency from it...This path beyond diesel is not going to be clear. It is really going to be dependent on applications. Even if you look at the highway market, what the long haul trucks need, versus what the mining trucks need, versus what your short haul vehicles need will be very different.”

 

“Our strategy is to make a suite of products available and work with the customer to see which application (hydrogen or natural gas, among others) is best suited for which vehicle and in which operating environment,” she added.

 

At the Expo, the company launched a natural gas engine, a diesel engine and a hydrogen fuel delivery system.

 

She said, “Now, we are also moving towards natural gas. This is one of the products that we have unveiled at the Expo. We have ensured, through research and development, that the natural gas engine will provide you power equivalent to diesel engine. This helps remove the barrier in a customer's mind that I can't get a similar performance from a non-diesel engine...As the natural gas supply and retail infrastructure around the country gets better, the adoption for such engines will get better.”

 

She added that the company has also developed internal combustion engines (ICE) vehicles that run on hydrogen.

 

She said the hydrogen engine has been built in a way to ensure that its performance remains similar to the diesel engine.

 

“One is performance. Second is (retail) infrastructure. These two go hand in hand, which actually makes the customer switch from one fuel to another,” he stated.

 

She stated that the hydrogen engine is ready and the Jamshedpur facility — which is currently being set up — will manufacture these engines.

 

She said the retail infrastructure for natural gas is being developed for the last 10 years. There are "pockets" in India where natural gas is available.

 

“We in the industry and the government are working together to build the infrastructure as quickly as possible,” she added.