Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer Isuzu Motors Limited’s F-Series medium-duty pickup truck will be modified to accommodate Cummins' PowerDrive6000 electric powertrain, and a prototype will be tested in North America later this year.

For producing the electric variant of the F-Series medium-duty pickup truck, the Japanese manufacturer has created a joint venture (JV) with American multinational corporation Cummins. The JV, called the Isuzu Cummins Powertrain Partnership (ICPP), was created in 2019. Now, the two partners revealed via a press release that the upcoming electric pickup truck would represent the first zero-emissions solution facilitated by ICPP.

Thus, the JV agreement will see the American corporation integrating its Cummins PowerDrive6000 into Isuzu’s F-Series pickup truck and piloting the EV with prominent fleets in the U.S. starting sometime later this year. In case the demonstration and the pilot program prove successful, the Japanese manufacturer will explore opportunities to sell battery-powered pickup truck across North America.

Nothing has been revealed about the Cummins PowerDrive6000, but the powertrain in question has already been used in a Cummins plug-in hybrid concept pickup truck where it delivered a range of 50 miles (roughly 80 km) on a single charge. As the Isuzu application is for a fully-electric pickup truck, it is easy to assume that it will come with a bigger battery pack to offer more range.

Koichi Seto, Senior Executive Officer at Isuzu who also serves as a member of Board of Directors, said the project was part of the company’s efforts to decrease its carbon footprint.

Speaking on the topic, Seto said, “Through our partnership, we commit to continuing to explore further opportunities in the next generation power source including electric powertrain technologies in addition to the existing powertrain collaboration.”

Amy Davis, President of New Power at Cummins, added that their partnership with Isuzu would result in production and delivery of safe as well as reliable zero-emissions solutions, as the world is accelerating its pace of shift from ICEs to EVs.

Isuzu and Cummins also announced that they would keep on collaborating with each other to advance the future of power to enable customers to gradually achieve zero-emissions. However, no specific project was named by the two partners.

Last year, Isuzu joined forces with Hino Motors Limited and Toyota Motor Corporation to collaborate on the development of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), while also exploring the potential of autonomous driving technologies.