Cummins recently debuted their new 12-litre ISG engine amid the glitz and glamour of the 2015 Brisbane Truck Show, receiving plenty of attention in return.
While initially released in the domestic Chinese market, Australia has been ear-marked as the acid test for the new platform, and Cummins is confident the ISG’s 500hp output will set the standard in power-to-weight ratio and is “unmatched in the heavy-duty truck market”.
The high-output, low-weight engine is Euro 5 compliant, utilises a variety of composite components as well as an innovate design to weigh in at 860kg, and offers improved fuel economy, low-RPM response and reduced noise thanks to the ISXe5-derived XPI technology. It also incorporates an SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) system to achieve emissions compliance, similar to Cummins’ ISX and ISL.
Cummins Australia’s General Manager of Marketing, Sean McLean, believes Australia will play a pivotal role in the Euro 5 ISG’s development, with local testing already having run for approximately 6 weeks.
“As we’re now globalising this product, from our point of view we’re very keen to understand how it works in our applications. Our role in that global field test is to test some of the heavier applications and a harder duty cycle, and to get some good kilometres on them, which we’re good at in this part of the world.”
Once released, the ISG will replace the existing 11-litre Cummins ISMe5, says McLean.
“Currently we’ve got an ISMe5, so a Euro 5 version of our 11-litre engine, but it’s also the end point of a long development of that platform,” he said.
“As we look to the future – to Euro 6, for example – the ISM won’t meet that requirement, so this is our platform for the future generation. So the Euro 5 is the starting point for us in this country, but as we then move into later emissions requirements this is the platform we will need.”
And there’s already positive signs emerging from the local testing.
“We’re getting some good feedback in terms of fuel economy and improvement,” said Mr McLean.
“The power-to-weight ratio is significantly improved and that’s a real benefit with this platform. Obviously our ISX is a much bigger engine but it’s in the 1200kg range, while we feel pretty confident in where the ISG sits in relation to our competition in the 12-litre and 13-litre space.
Mr McLean lauded the opportunity afforded by the Brisbane Truck Show to begin all-important dialogue, and said the global release of the Euro 5 ISG will be in late 2016.
