JCB HYDROGEN WORLD FIRST MAKES INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

The wraps came off the brand new JCB hydrogen combustion engine - the company’s zero-carbon emissions solution for construction and agricultural equipment - at the Conexpo 2023 show in Las Vegas, as part of the International Fluid Power Exposition (IFPE).

Prototype JCB hydrogen engines are already powering backhoe loader and Loadall telescopic handler machines. JCB has also made a major breakthrough in proving the wider appeal of hydrogen combustion technology by installing one of the super-efficient hydrogen engines into a 7.5-ton Mercedes truck - a retrofit which was completed in just days.

JCB has also unveiled its very own designed and built mobile refuelling bowser to take the fuel to the machines. The bowser has enough hydrogen gas to fill 16 hydrogen backhoe loaders and is able to be transported either on the back of a modified JCB Fastrac tractor or on a trailer.

As part of its hydrogen development, JCB also investigated its use in fuel cells and in July 2020 unveiled the construction industry’s first-ever hydrogen-powered excavator - a 20-ton 220X.

For the time being, JCB has come to the conclusion that fuel cells are too expensive, too complicated and not robust enough for construction and agricultural equipment. In challenging the JCB engineering team to think differently using technology that is around us in a zero-carbon way, the JCB hydrogen engine was born.