Cummins has won the Jim Winsor Technical Achievement Award for its X15N natural gas big-bore engine.

The award was presented last week at the Technology & Maintenance Council’s spring meetings. It is voted on by trade industry journalists and recognizes a technical achievement.

The winner must also demonstrate innovation, wide applicability and real benefits for commercial truck operators.

Cummins’ X15N, for use in heavy-duty trucks, is set up to burn natural gas and renewable natural gas, the builder said last year when announcing the 14.9-liter engine. It is among a series of so-called agnostic engines that, with altered hardware, can burn a variety of clean alternative fuels to meet increasingly stringent exhaust-emissions limits. The engines are based on sophisticated Cummins diesels that are still manufactured and marketed.

Clean fuels like natural gas for internal combustion engines will comprise a bridge from diesels to an electric future for commercial vehicles, when fuel cells and batteries will supply the power, as they’ve begun doing, observers believe. The X15N will be an important role on the road to that future, the truck writers reasoned.

“We feel privileged to cover the trucking industry, and aside from our reporting and writing, this is a way to honor the suppliers who continuously improve the equipment that truck operators use,” said panel chairman and longtime trucking journalist Tom Berg.

“I am honored to receive this award on behalf of Cummins,” added Mark Ulrich, director, customer support for Cummins, who accepted the trophy that commemorates the award. “We’re grateful for the recognition and delighted to be part of this program at TMC.”

He added that the engine was was in development for about eight years, including service in China and elsewhere overseas. The engine replaces the smaller ISX12N, initially developed in a joint venture with Westport. 

The other four product finalists included Dragonfly lithium-ion batteries for auxiliary power units; Intangles’ artificial intelligence-run diesel particulate filter monitor; and a smart socket and rear-view camera system for trailers, both from Phillips Industries.