JCB has installed its hydrogen engine technology in an existing Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van to prove the wider appeal of the technology.

Lord Bamford with the retrofitted van

The retrofit was completed in just two weeks and one of the vehicle’s first test drivers was JCB chairman Anthony Bamford, who is leading the company’s £100m hydrogen engine project.

The internal combustion engine used in the van is the same as those already powering prototype JCB construction and agricultural machines.

It marks the second Mercedes-Benz vehicle to be retrofitted with a JCB hydrogen engine; earlier this year a 7.5-tonne Mercedes-Benz truck was given the JCB hydrogen treatment.

Lord Bamford said: “We have retrofitted this vehicle with a JCB hydrogen engine to demonstrate how simple it will be to convert existing vans and to show that it is not only construction and agricultural machines that can be powered by hydrogen. While converting vans will not be for JCB to do, it does prove there is something else other than batteries that can work very effectively.”

JCB has already manufactured more than 70 hydrogen internal combustion engines in a project involving 150 British engineers and they now power prototype JCB backhoe loader and Loadall telescopic handler machines. The converted van was formerly diesel-powered and the company said the switch to hydrogen is another breakthrough which underlines that this form of power could represent a much quicker way to reach global carbon dioxide emissions targets.

JCB’s hydrogen internal combustion engines are manufactured at its site in Derbyshire. Other recent innovations include a mobile hydrogen refueller revealed last year and developed to provide a quick and straightforward way to refuel machines on site.