John Deere's Electric Concept Tractor Sparks Interest

[thackney]

John Deere's Electric Concept Tractor Sparks Interest
http://www.agweb.com/article/john-deeres-electric-concept-tractor-sparks-interest-naa-ben-potter/
DECEMBER 13, 2016

The tech geeks of the world are all talking this week about a John Deere announcement and video that the company plans to unveil a fully electric, high-power tractor at next February’s Paris International Agribusiness Show. Company officials say the tractor has “the features and functionality of a classic tractor, while providing the benefits of electricity.”

The tractor, dubbed the Sustainable Energy Supply for Agricultural Machinery (SESAM), is still strictly in concept phase. In a French press release, John Deere notes the tractor has two independent electric motors – one for driving, and one for the PTO shaft and hydraulic system.

“When the tractor is stationary, there is no energy loss,” according to the press release. “It produces no emissions and virtually no noise. Currently, a full battery charge can work about four hours in normal use or drive around 55 km on the road. The charging time for it approaches three hours. The lifespan of the battery is approximately 2,100 charge cycles.”

Electrek, a news site that tracks the transition from fossil fuel transportation to electric and other “clean” energy sources, says this concept plugs into a larger industry trend.

“At Electrek, we firmly believe that all forms of ground transport will start to transition to electric propulsion relatively soon,” writes reporter Fred Lambert. “That includes large tractors for agriculture, as demonstrated by John Deere’s latest all-electric tractor concept.

As a farmer commented on the automotive blog Jalopnik, the concept might require some fine-tuning before the agriculture industry embraces it.

“I love the concept as we are always trying to find ways to be more ‘green,’” he writes. “My concern is that in modern farming I sometimes have to drive the tractor 10-20 miles from my maintenance shop to the next field. That doesn’t leave me a whole lot of energy to actually plow my 120 acres and then drive back. There aren’t very many charging stations out in the middle of nowhere.”

Want to see the tractor in action? John Deere France released the following YouTube video, which has amassed more than 125,000 views in less than three weeks.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8t81yYWZmM

[Frank Cannon]

Coal powered tractors? This seems like a step backwards.

[bolobaby]

I love the way they use "sustainable" in these contexts.

As if we have NOT sustained the internal combustion energy for over a century and will not able to do so for another two centuries if we wanted.

[JustPassinThru]

I guess Deere wants to get in on that crony-government gravy-train action.

Somehow they ignore how the game ends...as it did with Fisker and Solyndra and other fake-companies designed as fronts for Rent-Seeking cronies.

The Great Minds at Deere want to jettison their reputation for quality, earned over a hundred years, for an unsustainable game of Free Money.

THIS is what today's universities teach their Business Management grads.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Coal powered tractors? This seems like a step backwards.

Are you kidding? I would love to have one of those things.

[Frank Cannon]

Are you kidding? I would love to have one of those things.

Not me. I like dumping gasoline into the ol' Ford 8N and cruising. Not shoveling coal in between operating the controls.

[thackney]

Not me. I like dumping gasoline into the ol' Ford 8N and cruising. Not shoveling coal in between operating the controls.

We didn't have such new fangled gear when I was growing up.  We had to put our 1940 9N together from a couple truckloads of parts.

Today I rather enjoy my Kubota 3901.  4WD is important in my muddy slough.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I guess Deere wants to get in on that crony-government gravy-train action.

Somehow they ignore how the game ends...as it did with Fisker and Solyndra and other fake-companies designed as fronts for Rent-Seeking cronies.

The Great Minds at Deere want to jettison their reputation for quality, earned over a hundred years, for an unsustainable game of Free Money.

THIS is what today's universities teach their Business Management grads.

Well, I believe they are simply playing to a niche.  Some people like the electric motor as it is very quiet and easy to get going.

Same with cars.

It will not be Deere's main ground game.

[JustPassinThru]

It will not be Deere's main ground game.

It will be a distraction.  An electric tractor will be USELESS.

Look, I'm not down on new technologies that way.  Point of fact, I owned a Zero electric motorcycle for a year.  LOVED it.  Powerful and fast and fun to ride, especially in the city traffic I have to deal with. 

I sold it because of range issues (about 60 miles on a charge) and the difficulty of charging it while living in an apartment complex.  But I'd buy another in a heartbeat, allowing the money and a way to charge it.

But a motorcycle is not a car, which is much heavier and has equipment demands.  And it is not a tractor, which is heavier yet and must generate pulling force, which is its whole purpose for being there.

THE ONLY way this sort of technology will be workable is that they couple electric drive motors to a diesel prime-mover driving a generator, as with a diesel locomotive.

[Joe Wooten]

Are you kidding? I would love to have one of those things.

There is a steam tractor/farm equipment show every year here in Northern Illinoisy. Some pretty cool old machinery that is still working.

http://www.threshermensreunion.org/

[Cripplecreek]

Coal powered tractors? This seems like a step backwards.

One of the things I love about my hometown is our 4th of July parade. We have a farm heritage museum and our parade has LOTS of tractors.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

There is a steam tractor/farm equipment show every year here in Northern Illinoisy. Some pretty cool old machinery that is still working.

http://www.threshermensreunion.org/

Thanks for the link. I'll have to add that to my bucket list.

[Sanguine]

Not wood gassification?



http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/01/wood-gas-cars.html

[roamer_1]

Sad to be of the last generations to know what a johnny-popper is. I know one is coming the minute I hear it.

Used to pack silage with an old Minneapolis Moline... Drove every sort of tractor... Farm-all, Case, Massey, Ford, Most of those workhorses are gone now.

[Smokin Joe]

Well, I believe they are simply playing to a niche.  Some people like the electric motor as it is very quiet and easy to get going.

Same with cars.

It will not be Deere's main ground game.

Four hours of operation and three hours of charge time?
Not a serious tractor.
Up here tractors are going for 12-15 hours a day during planting. If farmers here were forced to use such an arrangement, they'd never get their crops in.

[Smokin Joe]

It will be a distraction.  An electric tractor will be USELESS.

Look, I'm not down on new technologies that way.  Point of fact, I owned a Zero electric motorcycle for a year.  LOVED it.  Powerful and fast and fun to ride, especially in the city traffic I have to deal with. 

I sold it because of range issues (about 60 miles on a charge) and the difficulty of charging it while living in an apartment complex.  But I'd buy another in a heartbeat, allowing the money and a way to charge it.

But a motorcycle is not a car, which is much heavier and has equipment demands.  And it is not a tractor, which is heavier yet and must generate pulling force, which is its whole purpose for being there.

THE ONLY way this sort of technology will be workable is that they couple electric drive motors to a diesel prime-mover driving a generator, as with a diesel locomotive.

Agreed. I thought they had come up with a diesel electric tractor, not battery buggy. D/E's might be an option, but a lot of folks would wonder why they should add in another system when what they use now works.

[driftdiver]

I guess Deere wants to get in on that crony-government gravy-train action.

Somehow they ignore how the game ends...as it did with Fisker and Solyndra and other fake-companies designed as fronts for Rent-Seeking cronies.

The Great Minds at Deere want to jettison their reputation for quality, earned over a hundred years, for an unsustainable game of Free Money.

THIS is what today's universities teach their Business Management grads.

THis would be ok for the guy who just need to use a tractor for short periods.  Like hauling a small amount of hay.   Certainly wouldn't work for big jobs.probably a short life too as the battery life would be a factor.   Buy a new tractor every 4 or 5 years. 

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Four hours of operation and three hours of charge time?
Not a serious tractor.
Up here tractors are going for 12-15 hours a day during planting. If farmers here were forced to use such an arrangement, they'd never get their crops in.

Same as an electric car. A novelty, not for a serious driver or farmer.

Some nut cases like to get electricity for their home from a solar spread which does nothing when the sun does not shine, either.

[mirraflake]

Not me. I like dumping gasoline into the ol' Ford 8N and cruising.

I restored a 1941 9N some years back and used it for many years around our property(first tractor I really operated though I have driven other tractors before but usually just moving them etc).  Purchased a brand new 45 hp New Holland 4wd, power steering, incredible brakes, nice seat, great creature comforts-pedal placement ergonomics etc.

I am like the young soldier who saw gay Paree and could never go back to the farm.

@Frank Cannon

[EC]

The main tractor on the family farm is a 1936 Fordson. 

It works, pulls like a train, is reliable as hell and, since we don't do a whole lot of plowing (hill farm, so there is nowhere to plow), it suits the needs.