JCB Commits £100 Million To Hydrogen Engine Development

JCB recently announced a £100 million investment in a project to produce super-efficient hydrogen engines which the company says will provide a zero-emission alternative to its diesel-powered machines. Development is already underway, with a team of 100 engineers at work and as many as 50 more to be recruited. JCB says the project’s stated goal is to make hydrogen-powered machines available to customers by the end of 2022. The company’s first prototype, a hydrogen-powered JCB backhoe loader, is already being tested and its second, a Loadall telescopic handler, was unveiled recently at an event in central London attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“Great British manufacturers like JCB are developing innovative solutions to slash greenhouse emissions and advance the UK’s green industrial revolution,” says Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “It was fantastic to see JCB’s super-efficient hydrogen engines, which could overhaul UK manufacturing, help us to rapidly reach our climate targets and ramp up the UK’s hydrogen economy—an exciting area that will be essential to tackling climate change, creating new jobs and attracting investment.”

Promoting Hydrogen

JCB will showcase its hydrogen technology in the Green Zone at the upcoming COP26 United Nations climate change summit in Glasgow. COP26 will be attended by nearly every country and will feature 12 days of meetings with world leaders, businesses, and citizens in an effort to create solutions for combatting global warming, including strategies to develop infrastructure needed to support the use of hydrogen. The Green Zone is open to the public and will feature more than 100 exhibitors and 200 events.

“We are investing in hydrogen as we don’t see electric being the all-round solution, particularly not for our industry because it can only be used to power smaller machines,” says JCB Chairman Lord Bamford. “It does mean we will carry on making engines, but they will be super-efficient, affordable, high-tech hydrogen motors with zero CO2 emissions, which can be brought to market quickly using our existing supply base. These will be our industry’s first hydrogen engines, developed in Great Britain by British engineers. Hydrogen motors have the potential to help the UK reach CO2 emissions targets more quickly.”

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Source: JCB