Electric tractors: for greener fields and greener air?
The first electric tractors are now helping farms to improve their environmental record. “Tadus”, developed in Germany, is already in the field at an organic farm outside Munich.
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00:00That's what a diesel tractor sounds like.
00:04And that's what comes out.
00:08Alongside it, an electric tractor making a different kind of noise, and with zero exhaust.
00:19It was designed by Johanna and Thaddeus Beyer here in Bavaria, and it's their contribution
00:24to a potential revolution in farming machines.
00:28The Thaddeus prototype, with 160 horsepower, is being put through its paces at this organic
00:33farm outside Munich.
00:43The tractor can run for 5 to 8 hours on a single charge, although the actual idea is
00:48not so new.
00:49I have a family background in farming.
00:55I used to help out a lot when I was growing up and as an adult, and saw the large amount
00:59of electricity being generated on site.
01:02So it makes sense to use that electricity right here instead of feeding it into the
01:05grid.
01:08The electric tractor does cost up to 50% more than a diesel-powered machine.
01:14But it's an investment that rapidly pays off, say its developers.
01:23Over its entire operational life, the principal costs for a tractor are for fuel or energy.
01:30And those costs here, with self-generated electricity, are around 70 to 80% cheaper.
01:37So the additional costs pay themselves off after just 2 to 3 thousand hours of operation.
01:45Putting the electric tractor to its first real test is Franz Oberhausen Buchner.
01:50The solar panels on the roofs of his farm cover almost his entire electricity demand.
02:00I value energy's self-sufficiency because it gives me greater financial security.
02:10And it means I'm less vulnerable to market fluctuations on the grid.
02:15The electric tractor would make him even more self-sufficient, with high diesel prices then
02:20no longer an issue.
02:22And the TARDIS comes with another advantage.
02:28Electric motors are easier to service and have less wear.
02:35Plus they don't stink or emit city smoke.
02:39I don't need any anti-pollution additive because they're clean.
02:45But there is one drawback.
02:46The battery can't deliver enough energy when it comes to ploughing fields or other heavy-duty jobs.
02:56The 500 HP tractor runs continually at a high level, so it can't be replaced by a battery.
03:02Not in the foreseeable future, with currently available technologies at least.
03:07So here the solution would be a fuel cell or a diesel generator.
03:13Johanna Beyer runs the marketing side of the new tractor and initially struggled to
03:17find any buyers.
03:19But with German diesel subsidies for the agricultural sector on the way out, she explains, a growing
03:24number of farmers are having a rethink.
03:27There's been a change in responses and in the questions.
03:33We do now see a clear increase in appreciation of the new technology and for its many advantages,
03:40especially on the financial front.
03:44Major vehicle manufacturers are now also joining the move towards electrifying agricultural machinery.
03:50And farmer Franz-Ulber Eisenbuechner is already thinking a step ahead.
03:54He's planning to use the TARDIS's battery to supplement his solar power generation system.
04:00As the tractor is not in use for most of the day, it can forward its electricity to his
04:04home and farm buildings.