JCB sets world hydrogen land speed record using construction equipment engines

What contractors should understand about the JCB Hydromax

The Dieselmax project in 2006 was designed to demonstrate JCB’s engineering capability to the world, and the Hydromax continues in that tradition. But this time a record was set using a combustion solution that’s less commonly understood and far less validated in the field.

The engine model powering the Hydromax is currently used in JCB’s 3CX Hydrogen backhoe loader, which is now available in Europe. JCB says that the hydrogen-powered backhoe loader, operating on a typical duty cycle, could reduce CO₂ emissions by around 9,000 tonnes annually. Unlike battery-electric equipment, the 3CX Hydrogen does not require a grid connection to recharge. Instead, the refuelling process is similar to diesel machines.

After the record-setting run, JCB North America President and CEO Richard Fox-Marrs and JCB Engineering Director Ryan Ballard were excited to discuss the Hydromax project’s implications for hydrogen-powered construction equipment.

“We’re very passionate that hydrogen fuel has a place with internal combustion engines. We’re absolutely convinced as a business that the internal combustion engine has got a long future . . . There’s a supply chain, the technology is understood. So [the Hydromax is] all about showcasing how hydrogen fuel can combine and just create a broader educational piece of what is truly achievable for the future,” said Fox-Marrs.

Fox-Marrs hopes that the Hydromax record demonstrates JCB’s value as a partner to contractors. “We are a very forward-looking, very futuristic company that has engineering prowess that we’re very, very proud of and someone they should see as a reliable partner moving forward.”

Ballard, who served as project leader for the Hydromax, will apply learnings from the project to JCB’s construction equipment.

“We’ve taken cutting-edge motorsport technology, and now we can go, well, how can we apply that to our machines?” Ballard said.  “We’ve learned a lot on this car project, not just about hydrogen and the engines, but we’ve also learned about how to control them. We’ve got a lot of real-time monitoring of systems and [how] the system responds to temperatures, pressures, etc. . . . Now I think that has got some great potential on our construction kit.”

Construction equipment has to work 24/7 and be continuously reliable on job sites, Ballard continued. “If we can have enhanced telemetry, enhanced on-board monitoring, it’s looking for how to optimize that machine all the time. It can give better uptime. It can give better fuel economy, increased performance. It’s things like that that we’ll take away from this.”