JCB Hydromax Sets a Hydrogen Combustion Land Speed Record
JCB Hydromax used twin production-based digger engines to set a hydrogen combustion land speed record, running on zero-carbon power.
Photo source:
JCB
JCB Hydromax Sets a Hydrogen Combustion Land Speed Record
A machine best known for digging foundations
just set a hydrogen combustion land speed record on a dry lakebed in Utah. JCB,
the British construction equipment maker, averaged 406.320 mph across two runs
at the Bonneville Salt Flats in its purpose-built Hydromax streamliner, driven
by Wing Commander Andy Green. The car burns hydrogen inside a modified piston
engine rather than converting it to electricity through a fuel cell, producing
water at the exhaust instead of carbon dioxide.
The record is still awaiting official
ratification from the FIA, motorsport's global governing body, but the
underlying claim doesn't rest on a concept engine built only for one car.
According to JCB, the twin engines inside Hydromax are tuned, production-based
versions of the same hydrogen engine already fitted to the company's
construction machinery, meaning the record run doubles as a public stress test
of hardware the company is already selling.
The Engine Doing the Work
Hydromax runs two hydrogen internal combustion
engines, one mounted ahead of the driver and one behind, each tuned to roughly
800 horsepower for a combined 1,600 horsepower. Both are built around the same
4.8-liter, inline four-cylinder engine block and crankshaft JCB already uses in
its production hydrogen and diesel machinery, rather than a one-off design
built solely for speed. During development, JCB borrowed ideas from endurance
motorsport directly, fitting the original prototype engine with spark plugs
originally designed for a Le Mans 24-hour racing engine.
Each engine feeds through a single-stage
turbocharger tuned to cope with Bonneville's high altitude, and a NACA-style
intake duct on the bodywork feeds both engines evenly while keeping aerodynamic
drag down. On a full record run, JCB states Hydromax consumes just over 2
kilograms of hydrogen and produces around 18 liters of water as its only
exhaust byproduct, a direct, verifiable illustration of what hydrogen
combustion actually emits at the tailpipe.
Moving Power Through the Chassis
Because Hydromax carries two separate engines
rather than one central unit, JCB had to solve a mechanical layout problem most
speed record cars never face. The front engine drives the front wheels through
its own gearbox, and the rear engine independently drives the rear wheels
through a separate gearbox behind it, with both engines laid on their sides
within the chassis to keep the car's profile low. Spools sit at both axles
instead of conventional differentials, and the six-speed sequential transmissions
come from Xtrac, a motorsport transmission specialist, with electronically
actuated shifting built for split-second changes at speed.
One detail reveals how far JCB stayed with
production parts even under record-attempt pressure: the clutches on both
gearboxes are the same units taken from a JCB digger, because specialized
motorsport clutches couldn't handle the load the record car demanded. The
chassis itself uses a steel lattice frame roughly 10 percent lighter than the
one built for JCB's earlier Dieselmax record car, with the driver seated in a
composite monocoque sub-chassis under a drag-racing-style roll cage, positioned
450 millimeters further forward and more centrally than in that earlier car.
Keeping the Hardware From Overheating
Running two 800-horsepower hydrogen engines at
sustained high output generates heat that has to go somewhere, and JCB solved
it without conventional cooling inlets on the car's exterior. Instead,
ice-filled tanks built into the nose and into a hump behind the driver cool the
engines and underbody components directly, with roughly 250 kilograms of ice
required per run and both tanks drained and refilled between attempts. JCB
states that the pistons alone require a full liter of cooling oil every second,
matching the combined oil flow of the rest of the engine.
Exhaust temperatures get equally serious
engineering attention: titanium turbocharger compressors spin at more than
150,000 rpm at temperatures close to 300 degrees Celsius, moving roughly a
bathtub's volume of air every half-second, managed through purpose-built
exhaust valve technology. JCB also commissioned an entirely new tire
specification rated for far higher speeds than its earlier Dieselmax car used,
requiring redesigned, enlarged front wheel arches to accommodate how much the
tires physically grow under high-speed rotation, with more than 30 tire sets
produced and tire changes planned between each leg of an official run.
What a Fast Car Actually Proves About Construction Equipment
A speed record set on a salt flat has little
direct bearing on how a digger performs on a muddy job site, and it's fair to
ask what one has to do with the other. JCB's answer rests on a specific,
checkable claim rather than a marketing slogan: the engines under Hydromax's
bodywork share their block, crankshaft, and core architecture with the hydrogen
engines now shipping in the company's actual construction machines, as part of
a hydrogen program the company has invested roughly £100 million into over several
years. If that claim holds, a record attempt becomes a public, high-stress
proving ground for a powertrain already being sold, not a disconnected
engineering exercise.
That said, a land speed record answers a
narrower question than it might appear to. It demonstrates that hydrogen
combustion can produce serious, sustained power output and survive extreme
mechanical stress, but it says nothing about hydrogen's biggest unresolved
challenge as a fuel: how the hydrogen itself is produced. Hydrogen only
delivers a genuine emissions benefit when it's generated using low-carbon
methods, and most global hydrogen supply today still comes from processes tied
to fossil fuels. A record-setting engine proves the hardware works; it doesn't
by itself resolve where the fuel going into it actually comes from.
You have exceeded your free limits for viewing our premium content
Please subscribe to have unlimited access to our innovations.
Get The Latest In Innovation
Join Our Newsletter
Where bold ideas find bold readers.
