Cummins has a new video out. Translation: there is another 8 minutes of sponsored bollocks about “the future of power” where the word diesel is treated like a fart in a lift and the phrase “battery energy storage” is waved around like holy water.
This one is a tie-in with Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine, where Cummins Power Generation’s Global Engineering Leader sits down to “demystify” trends in generators, transfer switches, switchgear and BESS for commercial buildings. Which is a polite way of saying: let’s rebrand flogging backup engines as thought leadership about the grid.
It is called “How power generation trends and tech are changing”. What it really is: an advert in a lab coat.
Sponsored Clairvoyance With A Diesel Aftertaste
The blurb starts with the “modern energy landscape” and the usual hand-wringing about complexity. Very serious. Very grown-up. The kind of tone you use when you are about to pretend your product catalogue is actually a public service announcement.
There is the usual line that “nobody has a crystal ball”. Of course not. But Cummins does have a shed full of generator sets and a record environmental fine the size of a small country’s GDP. Funny how the bit about the 1.675 billion dollar emissions scandal never makes it into these cosy chats about “the future of power”.
Instead we get a guided tour of the catalogue:
- Generator sets
- Transfer switches
- Switchgear
- BESS
It is less “vision of tomorrow” and more QVC for engine rooms. The future is here, and it looks suspiciously like the same gear room with a battery cabinet bolted on the side.
S17 Centum: Same Old Sermon, New Pulpit
Front and centre comes the S17 Centum Series. “Innovation” for commercial applications. “Resiliency and sustainability requirements”. All the magic words lined up in a row like prayer beads.
You know what is missing? The admission that this is still a fossil-fuel dominated architecture dressed in ESG drag. You get the impression that if Cummins could paint a diesel alternator green and slap “net zero ready” on the nameplate, they would.
Sustainability in Cumminsland means:
- Keep selling big spinning iron
- Talk endlessly about digital smarts and integration
- Point at BESS whenever anyone mentions pollution
The pattern is boring now. Every time AI, data centres or “resilient buildings” are mentioned, up pops Cummins with a reassuring grin and a brochure full of gen-sets. The S17 is just the latest altar piece in the church of “you will always need backup, and who better than us to sell it”.
Batteries As Fig Leaf, Not Revolution
Battery Energy Storage Systems get their own bullet point in the blurb. Adoption drivers. Integration challenges. Future advancements. All sounds terribly forward-looking.
But listen closely and you can almost hear the subtext: batteries are there to smooth the load, polish the emissions chart and, crucially, avoid upsetting the real money spinner. These systems are designed to hug diesel, not replace it.
BESS in Cummins talk is a sidecar, not a new bike. It catches the spikes when the grid is grumpy, keeps the generator from idling like a drunk outside the pub, and ticks the “we are doing something modern” box for nervous facilities managers. The underlying model is still:
- Grid when you can
- Diesel when you must
- Marketing waffle to plug the gap in the middle
If they genuinely believed in a clean transition, the conversation would be about getting rid of combustion entirely from backup architecture over time. Instead the video is about making sure the old kit keeps its invitation to the future by hiding behind a battery cabinet.
Transfer Switches, Switchgear, And Other Holy Relics
The copy waffles about “technical innovations” that make transfer switches and switchgear “more efficient and reliable”. Which is lovely, in the same way it is lovely when a mortician buys a sharper scalpel.
Of course these bits matter. If your hospital loses power mid-surgery, you want the changeover to be instant and boring. Nobody is arguing against reliability. The point is who owns that story and what they quietly omit while telling it.
Cummins wants credit for:
- Making switches cleverer
- Making switchgear tidier
- Bolting digital dashboards on top
But not for the simple fact that all of this finesse exists primarily to support a world where we still rely on fossil-based backup plant for decades to come. The technical excellence is real. The moral framing is pure spin.
Consulting-Specifying Enablers
Then there is the platform: Consulting-Specifying Engineer. On paper, a serious trade outlet for people who design building systems. In practice, half sensible content, half sponsored fluff from vendors dressed up as “insight”.
This piece falls squarely in the second bucket. It is an infomercial with better lighting. Electrical engineers are invited to “consider” Cummins solutions when designing their next power system, as if this was a neutral exploration of options rather than a brand-polished sales funnel.
Everyone gets paid:
- The magazine gets its sponsored slot
- Cummins gets airtime as a trusted guru
- Engineers get comfort that the vendor seems on trend
The only loser is the public, left with another layer of PR fog between them and the basic truth: the backup industry is clinging to combustion and will milk it as long as humanly possible.
Demystifying Or Distracting
The blurb promises to “demystify the future of power generation”. What it really does is distract from the bits that actually need demystifying:
- How long do they realistically expect commercial buildings to stay married to diesel and gas backup
- What is the plan to phase that out in line with climate science, not just marketing decks
- How does a company that cheated on emissions tests now get to front the conversation on “sustainability” without eating shit first, in public, with clear commitments and timelines
Instead of answers, we get soft talk about “resiliency”, “flexibility” and “no crystal ball”. That last line is doing heavy lifting. No crystal ball conveniently means no hard commitments. Just vibes, webinars and “ongoing innovation”.
Why TCAP Cares About Yet Another Video
On its own, this is just one more glossy talking head. But in the pattern of Cummins communications it matters.
We have:
- AI and data centre puff pieces that quietly assume diesel will be “king” for at least a decade
- Slick narratives about microgrids and BESS that never quite spell out how little the core business model shifts
- Now this cosy chat with a trade mag about the “future” that is basically an extended product placement
Piece by piece, Cummins is trying to write itself into the story of the energy transition as the wise adult in the room, when in reality it is still flogging engines and scrambling to contain the reputational mess from the emissions scandal.
If you design buildings, you deserve honesty: yes, today’s grid is brittle and you need backup. Yes, current tech is a messy mix of combustion and storage. But you also deserve vendors who do not talk to you like marks in a long con. Vendors who can say: “this is the dirty bit, here is how we plan to kill it off”.
Cummins is not there. This video proves it. They are still in the phase of painting the diesel room and hoping no one notices the smell.
The TCAP Takeaway
So here is the translation of the blurb into plain language:
“We, Cummins, would very much like you to keep specifying our generators for another couple of decades, and we will say ‘BESS’ and ‘sustainability’ just enough times that you feel good about it.”
That is the whole show.
Until they start talking about exit ramps for combustion, not just better toys to support it, every “watch now” will be exactly what it is today: a sales pitch in a hi-vis vest, smiling at the camera while the real cost is dumped into your lungs and your future.
Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project