Heavy Duty Trucking, February 2018

HDT FEBRUARY 2018 42 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM ummins new X12 engine is slated to hit the street sometime early this year probably shortly after its formal launch in February or March The engine was introduced in August 2016 and I had a short drive with it then around the 7 mile loop track at the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty Ohio It wasnt much of an opportunity to get to know the engine but it whet my appetite Cummins invited me to drive the new X12 this past November on a longer real world route starting from the plant in Jamestown New York where the X12 is to be built The X12 has a displacement of 114 liters which according to conventional mathematical rounding principles should have caused the engine to be named X11 However the engine punches above its weight and to call it X11 would have diminished some of its brightest attributes Tipping the scales at just 2050 pounds it has the highest power to weight ratio of any heavy duty engine from 10 liters to 16 liters in size Its lighter than any 11 liter block on the market albeit subject to interpretation on how dry weight is determined And its published ratings put it squarely in 13 liter to 15 liter territory for torque and horsepower Under the hood Development on the X12 began in 2013 in close collaboration Chinas Beiqi Foton Motor Co There it was known as the ISG The version of the engine well see here in the next month or so has been almost completely re engineered Cummins tells me that close to 90 of the engine saw some re engineering to ready it for North America Well learn more about it when its formally introduced but based on what we know about the ISG the X12 has about half the number of parts found on other diesel engines It uses a sculpted block design for greater rigidity and less resonant noise The block was engineered to remove as much metal as possible to reduce weight without sacrificing structural integrity Several composite components such as the rocker cover and oil pan also help reduce overall weight It features optimized intake and exhaust ports for easier breathing and coolant and oil galleries were engineered for easier flow with less pumping effort It uses the XPI high pressure injection system and a Cummins designed integrated engine brake that delivers up to 50 more engine braking horsepower than traditional engine brakes the company says I have also been told that the X12 will be available with Cummins full suite of electronic fuel efficiency and operational enhancements such as Adept SmartTorque2 SmartCoast predictive cruise Load Based Speed Control and Connected Diagnostics It will also use Cummins Single Module aftertreatment system Cummins X12 V20 We tested our X12 in a Cascadia daycab on Interstate and two lane highways in Western New York near Cummins Jamestown plant Originally released in China as the ISG the X12 well soon get here has been 90 re engineered for North America And it works like a charm On the road For this test drive in a van trailer grossing 61100 pounds I ran about 90 miles on a nice mix of Interstate and flat and hilly two lane roads I headed west on I 86 from the plant in Lakewood to Northeast Pennsylvania where I flipped back eastward on I 90 I got onto New York State Route 5 at Ripley headed east to Westfield and then back south to the plant on S R 394 and 430 Its a great route to test an engine like this because its exactly the kind of terrain on which it will operate in real life The engine was installed in a Freightliner Cascadia daycab with a manual transmission I opted for the manual because it gave me a better feel for what the engine could do unaffected by an automated transmission with ideas of its own It was a 10 speed Eaton manual with a 078 1 OD ratio 358 1 rears and 11R225 tires a typical spec for a regional P D operation where the X12 might find itself This engine was rated at 455 hp 1700 lb ft The power curves indicate peak torque By Jim Park Equipment Editor jpark@ truckinginfo com TEST DRIVE C PHOTOS JIM PARK