Powered by two souped-up backhoe hydrogen engines, JCB’s Hydromax smashed the world land-speed record as the fastest car using hydrogen internal combustion.
The 32-foot-long Hydromax hit an average 406 mph in two runs August 11 at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. (To watch the record run, check out the video at the end of this article.)
JCB developed the Hydromax to top 350 mph with its hydrogen internal combustion engines for its backhoe loaders — with some modifications, of course.
The car’s two engines were boosted to a combined 1,600 brake horsepower. JCB's hydrogen engines were approved for commercial sale and use in machines in Europe in January 2025 and are being used to produce JCB hydrogen-powered earthmoving equipment.
The 3CX Hydrogen is JCB's first hydrogen-powered backhoe loader and is available in Europe.JCB
Green also drove JCB’s Dieselmax car for its 2007 speed record, in which it hit 350 mph to become the world’s fastest diesel vehicle. It was equipped with twin JCB 444 engines for a combined 750 horsepower.
Powered byThe new record is subject to official ratification by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the global governing body for motorsport. The previous record for hydrogen internal combustion was 185.5 mph set in 2004 by the BMW H2R prototype race car with a liquid-hydrogen fuel-injected V12 engine.
FIA rules require two runs, one in each direction within an hour. On its first run, the Hydromax averaged 400 mph. In its second run, it averaged 412 mph.
The speeds also topped the 303 mph logged by a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. That makes “JCB Hydromax the fastest hydrogen-powered vehicle of any kind in history,” the company says.
“Twenty years ago we came to Bonneville with JCB Dieselmax and showed what British engineering could do with diesel power,” JCB Chairman Anthony Bamford said after the Hydromax record runs. “Today we have done it again — this time with engines powered by hydrogen. This record was set by production-based engines, the same engines powering JCB diggers right now. That is the point of JCB Hydromax: it shows hydrogen works, and it works today at the highest level with zero emissions.”
To see the Hydromax’s world record runs, check out JCB’s video below:
