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Locally made Cummins engine to hit market in 2027

It's been two years since full production of a new line of X15N engines began at Cummins Inc.'s Jamestown Engine Plant.

Now, the X15N engine is ready for market after clarification from the U.S. EPA – no pun intended – cleared the road for its deployment. In July, the EPA issued a rule scaling back emissions warranty requirements that EPA officials said added the largest single cost to the trucking industry. Under the proposal, the EPA would maintain underlying emission standards, including nearly 90% of planned nitrogen oxide (NOx) reductions. The new rule also eliminates deratement, a safety and compliance mode programmed into a semi-truck’s Electronic Control Module that automatically restricts engine horsepower, torque or top vehicle speed when an emissions or mechanical fault is detected. The EPA is also proposing additional lead time before the longer regulatory useful life requirements from the 2023 rule take effect. This will allow manufacturers to ensure new technologies perform reliably under real-world conditions, rather than rushing unproven products to market.

"As a part of our phase transition, we plan to begin limited production of the model year 2027 X15 engine in January 2027 based on individual OEM (original equipment manufacturer) launch plans, with production ramping progressively and full production expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027. We also plan to begin limited production of the model year 2027 X10 in January 2027, with full production expected by the third quarter of 2027 based on OEM launch plans. During the transition, the current X12 and L9 engines used in truck and transit bus applications are expected to remain available under EPA’s proposed rule," said Jennifer Rumsey, Cummins president and CEO, during this week's conference call with investor analysts.

The X15N engine began production in late 2024 at the Jamestown Engine Plant. Production of the new line was the impetus for a $452 million line upgrade at the Busti engine plant that was touted during a 2023 visit by Cummins upper management team members during a visit to the Jamestown Engine Plant. More than half of medium- and heavy-duty trucks on the road in the United States use Cummins engines, with company officials hopeful the X15N takes on prominence in the company’s fuel-agnostic 15-liter engine platform.

Cummins bills the X15N as the industry’s first fuel-agnostic internal combustion engine platform that leverages a range of lower carbon fuel types. The fuel-agnostic architecture of the 15-liter platform utilizes a common base engine with cylinder heads and fuel systems specifically tailored for it to use carbon-free hydrogen or biogas with up to a 90% carbon reduction.

Rumsey said there is interest from buyers in both older engine models already on the market and the newer engine models that will enter the marketplace in 2027.

"Of course, in our plants, we’re used to producing different products," Rumsey said. "This ability to have a longer limited production transition is something that we’ve not had in the past. With the flexibility and the draft rule, and we anticipate this will stay in place based on all of our conversations with the EPA, it really helps us and the industry ramp through that limited production phase between the old and the new product. We’re going to continue to sell the current product next year, and anticipate pretty solid demand for that and then ramp up."

The X15N engine has been in field testing since 2023, when Cummins launched a program with Walmart and Chevron fueling the X15N with compressed natural gas on a trip from Indiana to California. Cummins customers, including Walmart, Werner, Matheson, and National Ready Mix, among others, are beginning to test the very first engines of the fuel agnostic platform, the X15N. The program announced Tuesday is the first field test unit later in April to take part in the field test of this industry-first, 15-liter advanced engine platform running on renewable natural gas.

Cummins also embarked on what it called its Forever Rising Tour, which featured a fleet of five trucks powered by the 2027 X15, X15N and X10, representing a range of vehicle applications and specifications from multiple original equipment manufacturer partners. The tour was an opportunity to showcase Cummins' powertrain solutions, including aftertreatment, engine component, drivetrain, braking and digital technologies in advance of the new engines' entry into the marketplace.

"We’ve been doing field tests. We’ve had customers seeing the new HELM platform launches," Rumsey said. "I spent time with customers last week, they’re really excited about the opportunity to start to buy at the beginning of the year and build confidence and move in a more measured way between the old and the new product. I think it’s going to be a positive for us, and it’s going to let us really gain confidence and capability in that new product across our different OEMs and end customers."

Based on its current forecast, Cummins is raising its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to be up 10% to 13%, due to stronger demand across several markets, particularly North America on-highway, China construction and power generation. The launch of the new engine products is one reason the company is confident increasing its revenue guidance, Rumsey said.

"Obviously, we raised our guide for the year and the outlook for the North American truck market. We continue to expect strength in the second half of the year. With the EPA draft rule and with the phase transition that we’ve announced, the key thing is the destination doesn’t change. The growth opportunity that will exist for us in engines and components with those new platform launches remains the same, and we think the transition will be smoother," Rumsey said.