JCB Adds Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine to its “Road to Zero” Emissions

JCB hosted an event in the UK this week to show the North American media its 4-cylinder 4.8L hydrogen combustion engine, which has been installed in a working 3CX backhoewheel loadersand 542-70 Loadall telescopic boom forklifts for testing and improvement.

It also showed a modified Fastrac ag tractorsand trailer combinations as mobilehydrogen enginerefuelingtrucksThe

JCB has sold compact electrical equipment to contractors (CompactExcavator, telescopic boom forklifts, on-site dump trucks, scissor lifts, mini skid steers, and forklifts), and examined ways to incorporate zero-emissionprescription“JCB's Chief Innovation Officer, Tim Burnhope, says it first tried a variety of approaches to ”scale up" to larger equipment, such as the 220X Big Dig.batteries, but the cost and weight are prohibitive.

Subsequently, the company looked atHydrogen Fuel Cell Systemsthat even produces a hydrogen fuel cell version of a large excavator. “It's too complicated, it's not robust, and it's too expensive,” says Burnhope.

At the same time, Lord Bamford, the company's chairman, challenged JCB engineers to develop a hydrogen-burning engine that didn't use a fuel cell, with an eye on the commitment of many countries to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050. That's in 2020. Driven by a company-wide campaign called Road to Zero, they soon did just that.

Chris Giorgianni, vice president of government and defense, products, said several hydrogen combustion engines are currently undergoing 24-hour testing on the company's dynamometer, generating a lot of data, but it will take about a year for contractors to test the hydrogen units in the dirt. & Marketing in the U.S.

Although JCB is not exhibiting at Conexpo, JCB Power Systems is bringing its hydrogen combustion engine to Las Vegas as part of its booth at the International Fluid Power Expo (IFPE).