India's
leading manufacturer of earthmoving and construction equipment, JCB India
Limited, launched JCB 3DX DFi, industry’s first dual-fuel CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)
backhoe loader that can operate
on CNG and diesel simultaneously using the HCCI (Homogeneous Charge Compression
Ignition) technology.
The
machine was launched at New Delhi by Minister for Road Transport & Highways
and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari. He has been a leading
voice for the development of Construction machinery that uses alternate fuels
and an inspiration on CNG interventions in Construction Equipment Vehicles.
The
utilisation of alternate fuels is a significant step-change in the Construction
Equipment Vehicle Sector. Since the JCB 3DX DFi operates on a mixture of CNG
and diesel, there is a substantial drop in particulate emission. This also
leads to a reduction of proportionate CO2 emissions.
CNG
is also more economical and helps lower the operating costs to the end customer.
The machine has been developed in India and has been tested in various
operating conditions before its launch. It will be built at company’s Delhi-NCR
factory at Ballabgarh.
JCB
India's CEO and Managing Director, Deepak Shetty said “Throughout our four decades
of operations in India, we have continued to invest in Innovation. It is one of
the cornerstones of our operations. This dual-fuel machine can substitute
Diesel with CNG and has been developed to cater to the evolving needs of our
customers. It will further contribute to the creation of Infrastructure in the
country and will also be exported to countries around the world”
JCB
India has five factories and a design centre in the country. JCB group’s sixth
factory is currently under construction at Vadodara, Gujarat. The company has
exported Made in India machines to over 110 countries which are designed and
manufactured as per JCB’s One Global Quality Standard.
This
dual-fuel CNG backhoe loader is based on the same 3DX model which is well
established in the Indian market. It offers flexible fuelling, which will help
customers sustain in remote areas, where a CNG refilling point is unavailable.
The
machine will also come fitted with JCB’s advanced telematics technology - JCB
LiveLink. Through this, machines can be tracked and monitored in real-time.
This technology also gives updates on Service, Operations and Security of the
machine, online or through a mobile application.
To
date, approximately 1,60,000 LiveLink enabled JCB machines have been sold. They
can be geo-fenced, time-fenced and can be located through GPS. Customers get to
know about the machine’s health, fuel level, battery conditions, etc. almost
all critical parameters of their fleet on their mobile devices. It also gives
out service reminders and the history of the machine.