JCB spends £100m on hydrogen engine project

Boris Johnson refuelled JCB's prototype hydrogen powered backhoe loader

JCB is spending £100m on a project to produce "super-efficient hydrogen engines", the company has announced.

The Uttoxeter-based digger maker has targeted the end of next year for the first machines to be available for sale to customers.

One hundred engineers have been working on the development and the recruitment of up to 50 more is under way.

Chairman Lord Bamford said its sort of machinery would need to be powered by something other than fossil fuels.

The wraps have come off a prototype hydrogen-powered JCB backhoe loader and a second JCB machine - a Loadall telescopic handler - was unveiled at a London event attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday.

Lord Bamford said: "We make machines which are powered by diesel so we have to find a solution and we are doing something about it now.

"We are investing in hydrogen as we don't see electric being the all-round solution, particularly not for our industry because it can only be used to power smaller machines."

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He stated the company would carry on making engines but they would be "super-efficient" with zero CO2 emissions.

JCB has manufactured engines since 2004, producing them at plants in Derbyshire and in Delhi, India.