JCB has hailed as a breakthrough the conversion of a truck from diesel power to a hydrogen-fuelled combustion engine.
The Mercedes truck has had its diesel engine replaced by one that runs on liquid hydrogenJCB has installed one of its new liquid hydrogen engines into a 7.5 tonne Mercedes truck as part of its £100m hydrogen project.JCB says that the truck conversion “underlines that this form of power could represent a much quicker way to reach global carbon dioxide emissions targets” – assuming the economics and logistics can be made to work.
The hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engine used in the truck is the same as those already powering JCB prototype construction and agricultural machinery.Derbyshire-based JCB Power Systems has manufactured 50 hydrogen internal combustion engines to date in a project involving 150 engineers
. They are powering prototype backhoe loaders and Loadall telescopic handlers. Last year JCB produced a mobile hydrogen refuelling vehicle to show how hydrogen machines might be refuelled on site.
Lord Bamnford and the JCB hydrogen engine
Chairman and owner Lord Bamford, who has had a go at driving the converted truck, said: “This is a giant leap forward for JCB and the rest of the world because we all have one goal: to reduce emissions. The hydrogen engine we have installed in the truck is the same as those already powering prototype JCB machines, so there is no reason we should not see hydrogen combustion engines in vehicles used on the roads in the future, including cars.”
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