JCB Hydromax

JCB

Two decades after setting a diesel land-speed record that still hasn’t been broken, British equipment manufacturer JCB is heading back to Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats—this time with hydrogen in its sights.

The company, best known for its yellow backhoes and heavy machinery, is preparing to unveil the JCB Hydromax, a 32-foot streamliner powered not by batteries or fuel cells, but by hydrogen combustion engines developed in-house after a five-year, $135m (£100m) research effort. The project marks the latest and most public demonstration yet of JCB’s bet that hydrogen-powered internal combustion could offer a viable alternative to diesel in heavy industry.

In August, former Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green—still the fastest man on Earth after breaking the sound barrier on land in 1997—will return to the driver’s seat to attempt a new hydrogen land-speed record at Bonneville SpeedWeek in Utah.
The mission carries echoes of 2006, when Green drove the diesel-powered JCB Dieselmax to 350.092 mph, setting a world diesel speed record that remains intact today. But JCB executives say the new effort is about more than reclaiming headlines.

“This is not just about speed,” said JCB Chairman Anthony Bamford, who has personally championed the company’s hydrogen strategy. “It’s about proving what hydrogen engines can do and demonstrating the engineering capability we have in the UK.”

The Hydromax program arrives at a pivotal moment for hydrogen technology. While much of the automotive industry has focused on battery-electric vehicles, JCB has spent years arguing that hydrogen combustion engines may offer a more practical route for sectors such as construction and agriculture, where machinery often operates continuously in remote environments and requires rapid refueling.
Earlier this year, hydrogen-powered JCB machines began rolling off production lines, a milestone the company sees as validation of its long-term strategy. The land-speed project is designed to amplify that message globally.

“Putting advanced engines into a land-speed car allows people to see the technology differently,” Bamford said. “A digger doesn’t always capture imaginations in the same way.”

The Hydromax has been engineered in partnership with British motorsport and engineering firms Prodrive and Ricardo. Powered by twin production-based hydrogen engines delivering a combined 1,600 horsepower, the car is expected to outperform its diesel predecessor in both speed and efficiency.

Green says the new machine is already a major leap forward.

“The Hydromax is lighter, more powerful, and faster than the original Dieselmax,” he said. “And once again, we’re aiming to show the world what British engineering can achieve.”

The attempt will begin with testing in the UK before the team travels to Bonneville SpeedWeek, the iconic event overseen by the Southern California Timing Association, which sanctions official class records on the Salt Flats. JCB also plans to pursue FIA-recognized world records following the event.

The timing is significant for another reason. JCB’s hydrogen push comes ahead of the opening of its new $500 million manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas—a sprawling one-million-square-foot site that will employ roughly 1,500 workers producing machines for the North American market.

For JCB, performance engineering has long doubled as a branding exercise. In 2019, the company’s Fastrac became the world’s fastest tractor at 135 mph. Five years earlier, its GT backhoe loader set a speed record of more than 72 mph.

But the Hydromax project carries broader implications. As regulators and manufacturers search for lower-emission solutions for heavy equipment, shipping, and industrial transport, hydrogen combustion has emerged as a potential complement—or competitor—to battery-electric systems.

Whether JCB can break the 350 mph barrier again remains to be seen. But if the company succeeds, it could help shift the conversation around hydrogen from theoretical promise to high-speed proof of concept.