JCB, the developer of the world’s first working construction machines powered by hydrogen, has unveiled a mobile hydrogen refueller that will provide a quick and easy way for customers to refuel their machines on site.
The firm is investing £100 million in a project to produce super-efficient hydrogen engines and has already showcased working prototypes of a backhoe loader and Loadall telescopic handler powered by the fuel.
About 97 per cent of construction machines have fuel delivered to them while working on site. This means customers are already used to a transportable fuel, allowing refuelling to take place in a matter of minutes.
“Since we became the first construction equipment company to unveil machines powered by hydrogen, many have asked how they can be refuelled,” JCB chairman Lord Bamford, who’s leading JCB’s hydrogen project, said.
“Well, now we have an answer with our new mobile hydrogen refuelling system that allows the fuel to be taken from on-site tube trailers and distributed to machines as they work on the job site. This is no different to today when diesel is taken in bowsers to refuel machines.”
A team of 100 engineers is working on the project. The first hydrogen powered machine to be unveiled was a JCB backhoe loader, followed by a Loadall telescopic handler.
