One interesting conversation at COP26 was with the representative from JCB, who was showing off the company’s prototype of a hydrogen-powered farm tractor. Interesting because this was not a fuel-cell powered design, but a conventional-engined vehicle converted to run on hydrogen.
And it was not a straightforward petrol motor either, but a diesel engine that had been converted from compression ignition to spark ignition (for the non-petrolheads, this usually means petrol-powered rather than diesel fuel).
Yours truly was intrigued. So why not just take a petrol engine to start with, rather than going through all the work of converting a diesel engine to spark ignition? Ah, but we make our own diesel engines anyway, came the reply, and we know they are robust enough for the life these vehicles lead.
For that matter, why not follow the road of fuel cell and electric drive, I asked. The man from JCB explained that the company had examined all the options, and decided that rather than completely re-engineering a fundamental farming vehicle to ensure it was rugged enough for the heavyweight requirements of the sector, it made more sense to take a vehicle that was a known quantity and modify it as necessary.
Certainly a different approach to the majority of hydrogen-powered vehicles being developed, I thought. But it seems that launching a tractor that does not differ too much from JCB’s existing designs has a number of advantages.
One, it could be re-engineered fairly quickly from existing designs, and two, making use of many of the same components supported quicker and easier servicing and repair in JCB’s existing dealerships. Last but not least, a hydrogen powered conventional engine would be more appealing to the very conservative farming market, requiring little more of farmers than to install a hydrogen tank on the land.
JCB plans to launch the new model close to the end of 2022.
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JCB’s hydrogen-fuelled combustion engine
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