BAM Construction has hailed the ‘simplicity’ of the refuelling process of JCB’s hydrogen powered Loadall telehandler after testing the machine on a Midlands regeneration project.
The contractor has been trialling the first JCB 540-180H Loadall on the Tea Factory regeneration project in Digbeth, Birmingham. Powered by a hydrogen combustion engine developed by JCB, the machine offers a zero-carbon emission driveline, that is said to offer the same power and torque characteristics as the conventional diesel-powered model.
Colin Evison, BAM’s innovation technical lead, said, “We’re starting to explore the use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel. It was important to get the hydrogen fuel machine on a real construction site. We’ve seen it in test environments, and we know that technically it does work, but putting it to the test on a real site makes a real difference.
“We’ve noticed no difference in the way the machine operates. We have to refuel the machine in a different way, but it’s a simple and straightforward process.”
JCB has been delivering hydrogen to the site in a refuelling trailer that connects to the Loadall and refuels at the touch of a button.
Maggie Hall, BAM’s environmental sustainability manager, added, “Sustainability is one of our firm’s core values and we have set ambitious net zero targets. One of those targets is to halve our Scope 3 emissions, compared to our 2019 levels. Scope 3 emissions are the ones that we can influence, but we can’t directly control. A significant part of our Scope 3 emissions is associated with our supply chain, so it’s crucial that we work with the supply chain to reduce emissions.
“The road to net zero will introduce lots of different things to our industry and hydrogen is an important part of that solution. It can be easily serviced and easily refuelled. It’s a really important step to take to reduce our emissions.”
JCB group director – special projects Tim Burnhope commented, “We’ve been working for over three years to develop this fantastic hydrogen combustion engine and we’ve spent that time testing the machines on JCB sites, accumulating over 50,000 hours of testing. Now we’ve put JCB hydrogen combustion machines on to customer sites. We are proving with our customers that this really can work, that hydrogen can be the future for construction and agricultural equipment, the mobile fuel of the future, and one that is carbon-free, producing nothing but clean steam.”
