Andy Green Sets Hydrogen Car Speed Record at 406mph
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Andy Green, a 64-year-old retired Royal Air Force pilot, reached 406mph (654km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the fastest speed ever achieved by a hydrogen-powered car.
- The record was measured as an average of two runs in a car powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines producing a combined 1,600 brake horsepower.
- Green is the first and still only person to break the sound barrier on land, having driven the jet-powered ThrustSSC to 763mph (1,228km/h) across Nevada's Black Rock Desert in 1997.
- JCB's Hydromax vehicle surpassed the previous official hydrogen combustion speed record of 185.5mph, set in 2004, by more than double.
- Green also set a world land speed record for a diesel vehicle 20 years ago in JCB Dieselmax, exceeding 350mph (563km/h) — the same JCB project that produced the Hydromax.
- Lord Anthony Bamford, JCB's chairman, personally called Green to issue the hydrogen challenge, with Green crediting his wife's encouragement for persuading him to accept.
Why it matters: Green's 406mph run more than doubles the previous hydrogen combustion land speed record of 185.5mph from 2004, giving JCB a high-profile demonstration that hydrogen internal combustion engines can sustain extreme-performance demands — a data point the hydrogen transport industry will watch closely as it competes with battery-electric power for credibility.
Ask SkimNews
