HRH The Princess Royal was given an insight into JCB’s innovative hydrogen technology when she visited a special zone at the Royal Highland Show highlighting net zero innovations.

The Princess was shown around the engine at the show in Edinburgh by JCB Principal Engineer Tom Beamish and JCB Engineer Cameron Scott, who are part of the team helping to develop JCB’s hydrogen technology.

It was the hydrogen fuelled internal combustion engine’s second VIP visitor in 24 hours after Scottish First Minister John Swinney was shown around it on the opening day. The engine was the centrepiece of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Show Society’s Presidential Solutions Hub highlighting solutions designed to help meet Net Zero climate targets. It was also the first time it had been exhibited at an agricultural event.

Tom Beamish said:

“The Princess Royal was very interested in JCB’s development of the world’s first hydrogen combustion engine and spent several minutes with us talking about it, showing particular interest in the opportunities hydrogen offers for farmers. It was also great to show The First Minister the hydrogen engine and he was impressed that it was a completely new engine, which delivered the same power, performance and efficiency as the diesel equivalent, but with zero emissions. He was also struck by the fact it has been developed in the UK using in-house skills.”

A team of 150 engineers has been working on the £100 million JCB hydrogen engine project for nearly four years. More than 150 evaluation units have been manufactured for exhaustive testing and a number of those engines – and the refuelling options that JCB has developed – are being evaluated in real world on-site situations by plant hire companies, with very positive results.

In January, JCB’s hydrogen engine secured landmark rulings from licensing authorities allowing it to be used commercially in machines. This paved the way for a government decision on April 29th, changing the law to allow hydrogen-fuelled construction and agricultural machinery on public highways. In May, the 27 EU member states joined Great Britain in granting type approval for JCB’s hydrogen engine, clearing the way for its use and sale in non-road mobile machinery.

George Lyon, President of the Royal Highland society, said:

“Over the past year, the RHASS Presidency has been promoting new, innovative solutions that farmers can use to meet the challenge of Net Zero. We are delighted that JCB contributed to the Solutions Hub at the show with its new hydrogen engine, which represents an opportunity to switch to a “green” fuel while retaining familiar combustion engine technology.”