Construction equipment manufacturer JCB plans to produce super-efficient hydrogen engines with an investment of £100 million. The company unveiled its hydrogen combustion technology designed to cut net carbon emissions to zero by 2050 at its first trade show appearance.
Among the machines introduced at the EXCON event in Bangalore was the JCB hydrogen-powered backhoe loader, and the JCB 3DX hydrogen machine alongside the JCB hydrogen combustion engine. The company said this development was made to decarbonise the construction sector.
“JCB Chairperson Lord Bamford’s vision and passion is why £100 million have been invested in the last few years to create a grounds-up technology on hydrogen,” said Tim Burnhope, Director of Special Projects.
The heavy equipment manufacturer stated plans to replace fossil fuel tanks with hydrogen tanks with the same characteristics of speed, loading, digging and performing in a work site.
“This is brand new combustion technology. We’ve re-engineered our engines to run on hydrogen. It’s a zero-carbon fuel and gives a zero-CO2 solution. We’ve kept the DNA of our engines but the big difference is the fuel,” said Burnhope.
JCB India’s CEO and Managing Director, Deepak Shetty said, “When this futuristic technology comes in, it will differentiate between people producing their engines who understand the technique the way JCB does and people who take something off the shelf and put it in their machines”.
The JCB India CEO also said this innovation falls in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘National Green Hydrogen Mission’ that looks at the nationwide deployment of Green Hydrogen as a clean energy source.
“As the world has been assessing its collective progress towards achieving its climate goals, JCB is showing the world that it has a practical and affordable technology already in place to decarbonise construction, here in India and across the world. JCB India is proud to have taken the lead in introducing this technology to construction equipment in India. We are proud that India should be the first nation in the world to show this prototype backhoe loader machine in public,” Shetty said at the event.
A team of 150 JCB engineers is working on the pioneering initiative to develop hydrogen combustion engines – and more than 75 prototypes have already been manufactured, the company said.