A hydrogen-powered streamliner has become the world’s fastest hydrogen vehicle, reaching an average speed of 406.32 mph (653km/h) over two runs on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. The JCB Hydromax’s run was verified by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, motorsport’s international governing authority, and stands as the fastest speed ever recorded by a hydrogen combustion engine.
Andy Green, a 64-year-old former Royal Air Force officer who already holds the world’s outright land speed record after topping 760 mph in an earlier run, drove the Hydromax to the new mark. The run more than doubled the previous hydrogen combustion record of 185.5 mph, set by the BMW H2R in 2004.
Adrian Hall, JCB’s global marketing director, said the run was meant to prove the durability of hydrogen engines JCB builds for its construction equipment, which it already sells in Europe and plans to bring to North America soon.
How JCB’s engineering team reached 406 mph on salt
Hall said Green treated the run as a test of concentration rather than nerve. The natural salt surface shifts through the day as moisture builds, changing available traction between runs, and past roughly 200 mph the featureless landscape makes speed impossible to judge by sight; only the timing lights confirm it.
Two JCB engines powered the Hydromax, each boosted to 800 horsepower from the 74 they typically produce in construction machines, with help from engineering firm Ricardo. Prodrive designed the car, a Land Rover Defender served as the push vehicle, and partner Ryze supplied hydrogen on site.
Hall said hydrogen also solves a practical problem for JCB’s core business: heavy equipment is often the first machinery on a job site, before power or water lines exist, so battery charging isn’t an option. Hydrogen can be delivered like diesel, and only water leaves the Hydromax’s tailpipe.
FIA certifies the world’s fastest hydrogen vehicle at Bonneville
In a statement, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem called the achievement an important moment for motorsport. The run builds on a milestone JCB and Green set at the same site roughly two decades earlier with the diesel-powered Dieselmax streamliner, on a stretch of salt covering roughly 30,000 acres within Utah’s Great Salt Lake Basin that has hosted speed trials since 1912.
Hall credited the Southern California Timing Association, the FIA, and the local Utah community for supporting the project.
Hall said JCB plans to keep developing more powerful hydrogen engines for its equipment lineup, calling the Hydromax an early step toward wider adoption. As the world’s fastest hydrogen vehicle, the Hydromax is expected to draw fresh attention to hydrogen combustion as an alternative to batteries.
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