In late February John Deere brought its prototype electric tractor lineup to a vineyard in California for a media event, providing an opportunity to see and operate the three prototype machines and find out more about Deere’s entire electrification project, which is slated for limited commercial release next year.
Like the approach taken by automotive battery electric vehicle manufacturers, such as GM’s Ultium concept, Deere’s three tractors are all built on the same base platform.
“We have a platform that we’ve put a lot of thought into,” says Julien LeVely, Deere’s director for high-value crops. “We wanted to be able to scale from one machine to the next easily. They are very modular.
“This is going to be part of the lineup in the future. It will be a matter of choice. We’ll have a portfolio of vehicle options.”
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The prototypes at the event included a utility-class model designed for loader work, a type which most Prairie producers, particularly those with livestock operations, would find familiar. The other two were specialty orchard and narrow-vineyard models.
The new units are comparable to a 130-horsepower diesel version.
“Battery technology is evolving very quickly, but today anything less than 150 horse is a good candidate for electrification, be it a tractor or piece of construction equipment,” LeVely says.
Although still prototypes, it’s unlikely there’ll be any major changes to these units when they go into production.
“About 18 months ago we were here (at a California meeting) with customers, big growers in almonds, citrus and wines,” LeVely says. “That helped us understand how our very first prototype, the first iteration of those machines, performed — if it was serving their needs, what things it was doing well, what things it needed to do better. We used that to feed into the design of what you see today.”
There are five separate immersion-cooled and -heated battery packs integrated into the standard platform, but a tractor can be spec’d out with fewer if an operator doesn’t need that much run time.
“The powertrain is really compact,” says Deere’s business manager for battery tractors, Derek Muller. “And we have five power packs: one in the base of the chassis, three under the hood and on the right-hand side we have a fifth battery.
“The common skateboard allows us to put on different-size tires, different widths of axles and different cabs.”
“One of the best parts about having five batteries is it allows you to size the power on the tractor to what the customer needs. If a customer doesn’t need five battery packs, we can take one off. You could take three off. You could take two off.”
Each system in the tractors runs with its own electric motor, so PTO, hydraulic performance and ground speed can be independently controlled with a high level of precision.
Deere is evaluating options for creating an on-farm charging infrastructure to go with the tractors. There are likely to be several options, including something as basic as an adapter to plug into a standard 50-amp welder outlet in a farm shop. At the other end of the spectrum is a DC Level III charger (which would require three-phase power) capable of recharging a tractor battery from 20 to 80 per cent in a little over 45 minutes.
“Why 20 to 80 per cent?” electrical infrastructure ecosystem manager Randy Jerome explains. “There’s a charging curve to our batteries. This is as common in on-road industry as the off-road. (In that range) you can push a lot of energy into the battery really fast. When you get to 80, the charging curve flattens. The battery management system on our vehicles tempers that power.
“There’ll be a charger selection process. It’s transformative with our battery electric vehicles, so we want to give the right insights to our customers to make the right choice.
“We’re testing a few different packages with growers and our dealers. We’ll roll that out to customers at the appropriate time.”
The immersion feature keeps the batteries at a constant temperature to extend their lives and allow them to cope with fast charging. Deere staff say battery life is expected to match that of the overall tractor.
The tractors were designed for ease of operation, with straightforward controls. Operators who know their way around Deere cabs will find these pretty familiar.
“When you get in this tractor and drive it, it’s almost identical to how you drive your car,” Muller says. “You have an accelerator pedal and brake pedals. When you get up to speed there is a cruise control system.
“When you let off the pedal you’ll feel the vehicle slow down as we’re trying to reclaim energy.”
Deciding if an electric tractor will work on any farm will require some thought in advance: what jobs will it do, how far will it need to travel from a recharging station and how fast do recharge times need to be?
“What does your operation demand?” Jerome explains. “Do you need to quickly turn around these vehicles or do you have six to eight hours these tractors can charge?
“What type of demands do we put on these tractors? We’re kind of breaking it up between low, medium and high. A good example for a low demand with really long run time is a rotary cutter, a Bush Hog behind the tractor. You could run that for hours on end, working your way up to the highest.
“If you’re pushing that tractor through the day, you may need a supplemental charge. Those are the type of things we want to talk through and understand.”
