The enthusiasm of the chair of JCB, Anthony Bamford, for hydrogen combustion appears to be paying off as 11 licensing authorities across Europe have given approval for the general sale of hydrogen-powered machines.
The Netherlands was the first country to do so with other major markets, including Britain, Germany, France and Spain following suit. More countries are expected to follow in 2025.
The company itself regards the clearing of this hurdle as a landmark moment in the development of this alternative fuelling method, one that it has pursued with great determination.
JCB integrates hydrogen
While other engine manufacturers have adapted engines to run on hydrogen and offer them as a variant of their standard ranges, JCB has taken a much more holistic approach and is designing machines for hydrogen power rather than just bolting it on as an afterthought.
Anthony Bamford describes this recognition by European governments as a very significant moment for JCB and believes that starting the new year with certification in place in so many countries bodes very well for the future of hydrogen combustion technology.
He also notes that over recent years JCB has shown that hydrogen combustion is a proper zero emissions answer for construction and agricultural equipment and has a serious role to play in breaking away from reliance upon mineral oil.
The formal type approval/certification of the hydrogen engines will pave the way for the sale and use of them right across the UK and Europe.
JCB claims that it has already produced more than 130 evaluation engines which are powering backhoe loaders, Loadall telescopic handlers and generator sets.
The real world testing of the company’s hydrogen equipment on customers’ sites is now at an advanced stage.
With all alternatives to diesel, be it mineral or synthetic based, there is the question of distribution and storage, and JCB has not neglected this aspect.
Keeping it in the family
The company has teamed up with the investment specialists HYCAP, and an Oxford-based hydrogen engineering company called HydraB, to form HyKit a joint venture that will produce the required fuelling and storage infrastructure.
Starting in 2025 HyKit will build a range of products to assist hydrogen distribution, including mobile compressors, storage tanks and refuelling systems.
HydraB has a good deal of experience in this field; it is the creation of Jo Bamford, son of Anthony Bamford, and he has also spent a great deal of time and energy promoting hydrogen as an alternative fuel in the UK.
As owners of Wrightbus in Northern Ireland, the company is already producing hydrogen-powered vehicles as well as converting ‘mid life’ buses to hydrogen combustion.
This knowledge base will now be put to use in the construction equipment sector.
HydraB is also behind the development of a production facility in Bradford, North Yorkshire, for the production of hydrogen through electrolysis rather than as a by-product of oil refining, enabling it to be termed green hydrogen.
Growing momentum
The pairing of the two companies in the promotion of hydrogen as an alternative to mineral-based diesel fuel creates a force to be reckoned with, drawing the sting from critics of the gas who have pointed to the shortcomings in its production and implementation.
Between them they have already produced hydrogen-powered buses and construction equipment and and are now moving into the supply of the equipment needed to store and dispense the fuel.
