Cummins Electrification Rebrand Promises Acceleration of Electric School Bus Production

March 8, 2023

Alongside the news that it has rebranded its electrification business, Cummins Inc. announced its desire to launch 1,000 new electric school buses with Blue Bird.

Cummins on Tuesday revealed its new Accelera by Cummins brand for the new power business unit. In a release, the company said Accelera is a “significant step forward in Cummins’ efforts to achieve its Destination Zero strategy,” which includes the target of eliminating 55 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its products in the field.

The new brand is a result of $1.5 billion Cummins said it has invested in research, technology, capital and acquisitions, the latter seen with the purchase of Meritor last year. Cummins is also coming out with a fuel agnostic engine that will allow customers to choose the option that best fits operations yet provides a path for adopting other fuels in the future.

Accelera and Blue Bird aim to “greatly” accelerate the production of 1,000 ESBs over the next 12 to 18 months, which Cummins said would reduce annual carbon emissions by 10,600 metric tons. The partnership, Cummins added, would more than double the number of ESBs the two companies have produced together to date.

Meanwhile, Accelera is also focusing on the further development of hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers in addition to batteries, e-axles and traction systems. A question posed to a Cummins spokesman regarding if school buses could figure into the company’s fuel cell plans was not answered at this writing. Cummins does have experience with fuel cells in Europe and is working with Scania to deploy four fuel-cell Class 8 heavy duty trucks in the U.S. next year.

Cummins also announced Amy Davis as president of Accelera. She has served as president of Cummins new power business since July 2020 and has been with the company for over 12 years, five as VP and GM of the Cummins’ filtration business.

“We have the most complete offering for transitioning our customers in a realistic way to zero carbon solutions, and Accelera helps us bring them faster to market,” Davis added in a video posted online.