There is a team of 100 engineers already working on the development with the recruitment of up to 50 more engineers under way, the company has announced. JCB expects the first machines to be available for sale to customers by the end of 2022.

       The Prime Minister said: “Great British manufacturers like JCB are developing innovative solutions to slash greenhouse emissions and advance the UK’s green industrial revolution.

       “It was fantastic to see JCB’s super-efficient hydrogen engines, which could overhaul UK manufacturing, help us to rapidly reach our climate targets and ramp up the UK’s hydrogen economy – an exciting area that will be essential to tackling climate change, creating new jobs and attracting investment.”

       The zero-emission hydrogen technology comes at a time when governments around the world announce strategies to develop infrastructure to support use of hydrogen to control CO2 emissions.

       JCB’s hydrogen technology will next be on show in the Green Zone at COP26 in Glasgow in November.

       JCB Chairman Lord Bamford said: “Our sort of machinery will need to be powered by something other than fossil fuels.

       “We make machines which are powered by diesel so we have to find a solution and we are doing something about it now.

       “We are investing in hydrogen as we don’t see electric being the all-round solution, particularly not for our industry because it can only be used to power smaller machines.

       He added: “It does mean we will carry on making engines, but they will be super-efficient, affordable, high-tech hydrogen motors with zero CO2 emissions, which can be brought to market quickly using our existing supply base.”

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       The hydrogen engines developed in Great Britain will be an industry first.

       JCB has manufactured engines since 2004 and produced them in plants at Derbyshire and in Delhi in India.

       In 2021, JCB will celebrate a major milestone: the production of its 750,000th engine.

       JCB was founded in 1945 and is a manufacturer of equipment for construction, agriculture, waste handling and demolition.

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       The Government pledged to be carbon-free by 2050 as the threat of climate change continues to grow around the world.