JCB invest £45 million in new six-cylinder engine
Equipment manufacturer announces production of new Dieselmax 672 at its Foston factory
JCB have announced that around 50 jobs will be created as part of a major £45 million investment in a new six-cylinder, 7.2-litre engine – the Dieselmax 672 – which will be designed and built at their modern purpose-built facility in Foston, Derbyshire.
Based on the company’s successful four-cylinder, 4.8-litre Dieselmax engine platform, the new six-cylinder engine will be offered with ratings of 140kW (188hp), 165kW (221hp), 190kW (255hp) and a maximum output of 225kW (302hp). Maximum torque is 1,200Nm.
According to JCB, the Dieselmax 672 will be a highly efficient engine offering up to an 8% increase in fuel-efficiency compared with previous engines in the JS excavator range. In testing, the 7.2-litre engine has recorded a specific fuel consumption of just 189g/kWh, while delivering excellent performance and rapid response.
The new engine will initially be manufactured to meet Stage II emissions standards for key growth markets, including Russia, Brazil and China. The engine will be seen first in JCB’s JS360 crawler excavator for those territories, but will be used in additional machines in the months to come.
In development for more than two years, the Dieselmax 672 engine has already completed more than 50,000h of testing, 30,000 of which have been in machines working in the field. It will have 500h service intervals, maintaining low operating costs and maximum uptime for customers.
The engine will also be offered as part of the company’s OEM product line for use in non-JCB machinery.
Alan Tolley, director of engine programmes at JCB Power Systems, commented: ‘The six-cylinder is the ultimate expression of our Dieselmax engine design philosophy. Through the use of innovative engine design and technological development, we have produced a reliable, highly durable and incredibly fuel-efficient engine that will go on to power our larger equipment in many markets around the world.’
