JCB Leading the Way with Hydrogen Power

There is no doubt about it, JCB have been leading the way with the development of hydrogen power for construction and agricultural machinery.

JCB has invested £100m to produce hydrogen engines and working prototypes of their backhoe loader and telescopic handler are already putting in the hours at the test digging sites.

Earlier this month the Staffordshire based manufacturer held a press and social media themed day to demonstrate these machines and the engines powering them, and to talk in more depth about the development process.

Unfortunately, due to prior arrangements I could not attend the day, but our editor at Earthmovers Magazine was there and will be reporting in more detail in a forthcoming issue.

Other notable attendees on the day included our friends over at Diggers and Dozers, Mark Anthony and Freddie, and Peter Haddock of Content with Media, all of whom have produced material on this topic.

On the day they were also shown JCB’s solution to refuelling the machines, with a dedicated mobile hydrogen powered refuelling system based around a Fastrac unit. Their logic is simple, rather than take the machine to the fuel, take the fuel to the machine, much like we have seen for many years with mobile diesel bowers on big sites up and down the country and around the world.

JCB chairman Lord Bamford said, “Fossil fuels are not the future and hydrogen is the practical solution to powering our machines in the decades to come. Our British engineers are doing a fantastic job in developing this technology and there are many more exciting developments to come.”

Checkout this stunning video from JCB.