Manitou has announced plans to fit a hydrogen-fuelled powertrain in its telehandlers.

The company has constructed a green hydrogen station at its test centre, which will allow it to conduct trials on prototype machines – the first of which is a construction-spec model with a 14m reach.

This will draw its power from a fuel cell, which mixes hydrogen and oxygen to produce energy that can be used to drive electric motors.

See also: JCB’s hydrogen-fuelled combustion engine examined

However, Manitou also intends to investigate the merits of hydrogen combustion – though presumably not using the engine being developed by arch-rival JCB at its Power Systems facility in Foston, Derbyshire.

“The green hydrogen sector is gradually becoming more established with the entry onto this market of a number of players,” said Julien Waechter, vice-president of R&D at Manitou Group.

“All of the aid mechanisms proposed by the different governments will encourage the transition to hydrogen, and will speed up the development of the distribution network and ultimately the reduction in the usage costs of our machines using this energy”. 

Manitou hopes to have a hydrogen-powered telehandler available for sale by 2026.