Wednesday 13th May

JCB targets 400mph with Hydromax

20 years ago JCB set a 350mph diesel record - what can it reach with hydrogen? 

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JCB has quite the history when it comes to speed records. In 2019, it created the fastest tractor on the planet, the 135.191mph Fastrac. The JCB GT remains the fastest Backhoe Loader in the world, having reached 72.58mph in 2014. Most famous of all, though, was JCB’s Dieselmax, a 350mph streamliner that stunned Bonneville in 2006. 

This year it turns out JCB is heading back to the iconic salt flats, again targeting a land speed record. This time, though, it’s with hydrogen power, the new Hydromax helping to promote JCB’s recent £100m spend - including a new San Antonio factory - on making hydrogen diggers. As Hydromax is aiming to break records in Utah (with a little help from Prodrive and Ricardo), the first hydrogen-powered JCBs should be hard at work doing what diggers do. 

Andy Green will be driving the 9.75m streamliner this summer; who else do you call when there’s a speed record to set? He was the man who achieved 350.092 in Dieselmax, and will be aiming to better that this time around. Surely no bother for the man who reached 763.035mph, if still a pretty intimidating prospect for the rest of us. Wing Commander Green added: “The 'JCB Hydromax' car is lighter, more powerful and faster than its predecessor of 20 years ago. Once again, we're going to show the world just how good British engineering and technology really is. This August we're going to smash the hydrogen-powered vehicle record in the world's fastest (and most exciting!) zero-emissions vehicle. I can't wait.”

The Hydromax gets its 1622hp from a pair of ‘production-based hydrogen engines’, and JCB Chairman Anthony Bamford is unabashed about his intention:  “As for the speed, we’re aiming for with JCB Hydromax – we intend to beat 350 mph.” Which would be quite some line in the sand (or the salt, rather) for hydrogen power. Bonneville Speed Week kicks off on August 1st…

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• New BMW iX5 Hydrogen primed for 385-mile range
• Toyota Gazoo Racing reveals hydrogen concept

[blue al]

Bring it on....

And why not...

[Terminator X]

Hydrogen you say

TX.

[can't remember]

Well, that'll be Farage grifting Hydrogen in the morning then.

[simonrockman]

And where do they get the green Hydrogen from?

[LivLL]

simonrockman said:

And where do they get the green Hydrogen from?

Electrolysis using renewable energy normally. Expensive but not uncommon.

[GT9]

simonrockman said:

And where do they get the green Hydrogen from?

Oh-oh, yes, I'm the great pretender
Pretending that I'm doing well
My need is such, I pretend too much
I'm methane, but no one can tell

Oh-oh, yes, I'm the great pretender
Adrift in a world of my own
I played the game but to my real shame
Old men keep putting me on the throne

Too real is this feeling of make-believe
Too real when I feel what my heart can't conceal
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)

Yes, I'm the great pretender
Just laughin' and gay like a clown
I seem to be what I'm not, you see
I'm wearing my heart like a crown
Pretending that I didn't come out of the ground

Too real is this feeling of make-believe
Too real when I feel what my heart can't conceal
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)

Yes, I'm the great pretender
Just laughin' and gay like a clown
I seem to be what I'm not, you see
I'm wearing my heart like a crown
Pretending that I didn't come out of the ground
(the ground)

[Chubbyross]

Impressive, but what's its Ring time?

[georgeyboy12345]

LivLL said:

simonrockman said:

And where do they get the green Hydrogen from?

Electrolysis using renewable energy normally. Expensive but not uncommon.

But why not just put that renewable energy into a battery? Way easier and cheaper.

[georgeyboy12345]

Can t stand that old crusty tax dodging paedo tory that runs JCB. He was in a Harry Metcalfe video a while ago, neither of them came across very well. He should retire and let someone with more progressive ideas run the company.

[LRDefender]

Hmmm... Bamford... Bamford... I remember this name.... Yep, Bamford that's it...

Didn't he get embroiled in some kind of damaging political debate that irreversibly damaged the UK economy a few years ago and currently has the taxman sniffing around?

[LivLL]

georgeyboy12345 said:

But why not just put that renewable energy into a battery? Way easier and cheaper.

You'd have to ask JCB. I'm sure they know what they're doing.

[swisstoni]

georgeyboy12345 said:

LivLL said:

simonrockman said:

And where do they get the green Hydrogen from?

Electrolysis using renewable energy normally. Expensive but not uncommon.

But why not just put that renewable energy into a battery? Way easier and cheaper.

Do we have a big battery to put the unused renewable energy in?

[FarmerJim]

LRDefender said:

Hmmm... Bamford... Bamford... I remember this name.... Yep, Bamford that's it...

Didn't he get embroiled in some kind of damaging political debate that irreversibly damaged the UK economy a few years ago and currently has the taxman sniffing around?

Yes, that's the man. I hurl abuse at his helicopter when it flies over my house.

[AmyRichardson]

Seems like low-hanging publicity fruit.

Current ICE record is something ridiculous like 130mph more than this, and that's using a fairly generic turbo'd big block... I can't imagine that a fraction of that difference is attributable to the relative power potentials of diesel/petrol/H2.

[FestivAli]

I like the nod to Ja mais content.

[ashenfie]

LRDefender said:

Hmmm... Bamford... Bamford... I remember this name.... Yep, Bamford that's it...

Didn't he get embroiled in some kind of damaging political debate that irreversibly damaged the UK economy a few years ago and currently has the taxman sniffing around?

Think you getting confused with Keir Starmer. Bamford just not keen on paying tax, but then again who is?

[LivLL]

Yup aggressive tax avoidance, still under investigation 3 years on.

Anyway, back to the attempt. What’s not to love about it?

[Collectingbrass]

LivLL said:

georgeyboy12345 said:

But why not just put that renewable energy into a battery? Way easier and cheaper.

You'd have to ask JCB. I'm sure they know what they're doing.

You need to be able to charge the battery, which works for places where you have fixed installations such as farms, factory, mines, batching plants and waste handling equipment, but it doesn't work for construction equipment, whose deployment period is too short to justify the cost of the electrical infrastructure*, or for equipment used in more remote regions. Hydrogen distribution methodologies support the flexibility requirement in the construction & remote region use cases. This is also why one of the world's biggest producers of Hydrogen, INEOS, have gone all in on the Grenadier.

(*) By which I mean the additional cost over the more usual diesel bowser

[Geoffcapes]

But... but... but... hydrogen....

It'll never catch on.......

Blah blah blah.......

[drmotorsport]

"zero emissions", I was under the impression burning H created water, unless there's some other witchcraft going on?