JCB has presented a mobile hydrogen refueling unit that it claims would enable on-site refueling of hydrogen-powered machines.
A functioning prototype of a backhoe loader and a Loadall telescopic handler has already been produced, according to the UK company, who said the refueller was part of a £100 million investment in hydrogen engines.
The mobile hydrogen refueller seeks to offer customers a simple way to refuel machines, the great majority of which have fuel delivered to them while working on-site. Customers are accustomed to transportable gasoline.
Our new mobile hydrogen refueling system, which enables hydrogen to be taken from on-site tube trailers and distributed to machines by our refueller as they work on the job site, provides an answer to the question of how hydrogen-powered machines will be refueled, according to JCB Chairman Lord Bamford, who is leading the company’s hydrogen project. This is identical to what happens now when diesel is transported in browsers to refill the equipment.
“Fossil fuels are not the way of the future, and hydrogen is the sensible way to power our machines in the coming decades. There are many more interesting innovations to come, and our British engineers are developing this technology superbly.
The refueller’s technical specifications and release date from JCB have not yet been disclosed.
On the hydrogen project, the OEM is working with 100 engineers. A backhoe loader was the company’s first hydrogen-powered machine, and a telescopic handler followed a year later.
