Clean energy, electric tractors and autonomous agricultural machinery are 'hot' topics and are getting increasingly popular. What are the current developments? This is the current state of affairs in the agri world.
For years we have been looking at whether yard work can be carried out partly or entirely electrically. The size and complexity of electrical installations has increased enormously in recent years. Nevertheless, the agricultural sector is still divided in the transition to clean energy, electric tractors and autonomous agricultural machinery. It is also possible that a another, alternative source of energy will replace oil and electricity. Think of solar energy, wind energy, biofuel, hydrogen and geothermal energy.
Robotisation on electric drive in agriculture is tremendously ambitious, but it does offer fantastic possibilities. Developments on the farm and in the barn are changing rapidly: an electric feeding system, field robots, electric manure mixer, feed pusher robot or electric shovel contribute to lower CO2 emissions. If the used electricity is also generated sustainably on your own farm, you're in a good position as an agricultural entrepreneur.
Are you a machine builder? Then these are opportunities for you as a manufacturer when it comes to making electric motors:
- New technical functions
- Increase in performance
- Reduction of production costs
- Simplification of the machine design
- Increased security
- New markets
Challenges for electrical tractors
Making the agricultural sector completely free of fossil fuels is a major challenge. Below we describe briefly four big challenges for electric tractors:
1. Batteries
The energy density of the current generation of batteries is insufficient for use in large electrically-powered tractors and ann agricultural tractor requires a lot of power.
A tractor with an output of 180 KW (245 HP), which has to run 10 up to 12 hours a day and uses on average half of its power, requires a battery capacity of 800kWh. In the current generation, tractors up to 50 kW (68 hp) should be able to run for about four hours at average use.
In addition, charging batteries also takes quite a long time, about 2 to 3 hours. This is one of the biggest barriers for farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs to make the switch.
2. Acquisition price
The purchase price is also a stumbling block. A wide use of autonomous, electrical machines in the field is not yet accessible to everyone. This is because electric tractors are a new market in the agricultural sector. It is important to keep in mind that developing electric tractors takes time.
3. Regeneration is not possible (yet)
Nowadays, electric or hybrid cars can generate energy during car deceleration. The energy flow is then reversed. With this energy the car lets itself run out. This regeneration is hardly possible with agricultural tractors. As a result, the tractor has to be connected to the charger every time and, as discussed earlier, this still takes too much time.
4. Safety
Safety is also very important in the development of electric motors. In particular, the voltage with which they work. A safe voltage is 48 Volt. This is a voltage that is often used in smaller machines. With higher powers, the voltage will have to be raised ( + 600 V dc ).
Making sure that the battery does not become too heavy and the fire safety are also important points. This topic is currently being worked hard on. Passenger vehicles have already managed to deal with this, but a tractor needs much more power. More power also requires a larger battery and this in turn brings safety measures with it.
Off to the future
Eventually the need from the market will change, including the demand for electrical tractors. This will result in a development of R&D investments in the coming years. There is still a lot of work to be done before a tractor runs completely on a battery, which is why an intermediate step is, for example, a hybrid tractor. Maybe in the future you won't buy a tractor, but you will buy or rent an operation. What are you doing with these developments?
Staying up to date
We are happy to keep you informed via the Knowledge Center about developments in the field of robotisation, clean energy, electric tractors and autonomous agricultural machinery.
