Cummins, the world’s largest independent designer and manufacturer of diesel engines for commercial vehicles, is to develop Euro 6 engines at its Darlington plant from January 2013.
It is being supported by development agency One Noth East which has offered it a research and development grant of £600,000. This will help to safeguard 135 jobs and lead to the creation of new jobs at the company’s Darlington Technical Centre.
Euro 6 is the next step on from the current Euro 5 limits for truck engines and will reduce oxides of nitrogen by a further 77 per cent and particulates by 50 per cent, bringing exhaust emissions from the new trucks and buses to near-zero levels.
The grant to Cummins will help the company expand its product development operations at the Darlington site. Jonathan Atkinson, chief engineer at Cummins, said: “Cummins is committed to developing products that not only meet the challenging Euro 6 legislation but also deliver real value to our customers.
“This grant will allow us to expand the capability of our Darlington Tech Centre and gives an opportunity to integrate even more closely with key UK and European-based vehicle manufacturers.”
The aim of the three-year project is for Cummins to deliver class-leading engine platforms that comply with the upcoming legislation. The Darlington team will lead design and development of all major engine and after-treatment components and will also optimise these new systems for fuel efficiency and low emissions. More than 80,000 hours of engine testing will be completed at its facility and more than two million road miles will be driven to refine and validate the technology.
