Cummins has acquired mining and rail hydrogen-battery powertrain firm First Mode after Anglo American halted its funding last year.
The US engine manufacturer said the acquisition included the firm’s full IP portfolio, which includes hydrogen and battery powertrain solutions, as well as hybrid mining and rail product lines.
In addition to the technology, Cummins said it is buying First Mode’s commercial portfolio, manufacturing and technical teams in Australia, the US and Chile.
First Mode will operate within Cummins’ Power Systems industrial segment, with its operations expected to be fully integrated. Cummins stressed that First Mode would continue to meet customer demands through the transition.
In a statement on its website, First Mode said, “We have a robust customer pipeline that we will deliver to this year, and then scale our commercial trials into fleet trials in 2026.
“The acquisition of First Mode by Cummins Inc. will bring even tighter collaboration with industry partners, removing any challenges to market entry and scale.”
Cummins has not revealed the acquisition’s value.
Anglo American took ownership of First Mode in 2023 in a $1.5bn deal but halted its funding after a pivot away from hydrogen towards batteries due to slow uptake, as well as several job-cutting rounds.
Cummins President of Power Systems, Jenny Bush, said the acquisition would see the company expand its ability to decarbonise mining applications while driving down costs.
“With hybrid retrofit kits, modular component upgrades and scalable solutions, we are bringing miners the flexibility and confidence they need to decarbonise operations while adapting to evolving technologies and infrastructure,” she added.
Anglo American and First Mode unveiled a prototype hydrogen-powered mine haulage truck in 2022, using a retrofitted hybrid system.
The 7.5-metre-tall machine, with a payload capacity of 290 tonnes, was powered by a 2MW hydrogen-battery hybrid system, using Ballard’s fuel cells.
Read more: Mining: An opportunity to break ground on hydrogen mobility?
In 2023, a converted Komatsu 930E truck completed a year of operations at the Mogalakwena platinum mine in South Africa.
The deal also follows Cummins revealing that its clean tech business Accelera had taken a $316m hit in restructuring costs amid slowing demand.
Despite remaining quiet on what elements of Accelera had been impacted, Cummins said it would consolidate manufacturing efforts, prioritise the strongest business areas, rely on more partners and reduce spending in certain technologies.
Read more:Cummins quiet on hydrogen but expands batteries post-Accelera overhaul
Cummins CEO, Jennifier Rumsey, had told investors, “We’re continuing to invest but pace investment in electrolysers as we’ve seen some slowing in customer demand and uncertainty around incentives there and then being selective in fuel cells and some of the other technologies where adoption continues to push out.”
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