JCB eyes India for hydrogen engines

UK-based JCB plans to start manufacturing hydrogen-powered engines at its Haryana factory soon after its commercial adoption in the UK, top company executives said. The company considers its Ballabhgarh plant ideal for participating in the hydrogen initiative, as it already makes diesel engines for the parent’s worldwide operations.

- Subhash Narayan

J.C. Bamford Excavators Ltd, the company behind the JCB brand of earthmoving and construction equipment, debuted the new 448 ABH2 hydrogen-powered engine in March this year. The new engine is part of JCB’s Road to Zero initiative to create zero-carbon solutions in construction and agricultural equipment.

India is already a large producer of diesel engines to meet JCB’s global needs, and it would take up the manufacture of even hydrogen engines once the technology is mastered and put into JCB machines, chairman Lord Bamford said.

"We make engines in India. Every day, we make 200 engines at our plant near Delhi. And if we were making hydrogen engines for commercial use, we would be making them in India as well," Bamford said, stressing the need to develop infrastructure for producing hydrogen fuel.