JCB, the third-largest manufacturer of construction equipment in the world, just made a very interesting announcement that could point to future machines from the company being powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
Through its Research arm, JCB has purchased more than 16 million shares valued at $7.21 million (£4.9 million) for a controlling stake in ITM Power. ITM is an energy company primarily concerned with hydrogen energy systems and hydrogen fuel cells.
All of the company’s products use a process called electrolysis to create hydrogen from water. Electrolysers split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, a much cleaner process than how hydrogen has traditionally been created, using fossil fuels. Because of this, ITM calls its process “Green hydrogen” production.
Now, there’s two primary applications ITM uses its electrolysers for, the first of which is called power-to-gas energy storage. ITM says this HGas system creates hydrogen and then introduces it to natural gas distribution systems as a fuel for heat, mobility or power generation.
The second, and more obvious (and intriguing) application is for hydrogen-powered vehicles. ITM puts its electrolysers in portable stations (about the size of a shipping container) that are capable of refueling both hydrogen fuel cell cars and fuel cell/electric hybrids.
ITM says it can refuel a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) in three minutes with stored hydrogen gas, giving the vehicle a range of around 350 miles.
