Hybrid Tractor

[stlawrence]

I've been renting (while overseas working) a Ford Escape Hybrid. I love this thing.

It's got me thinking. One of the downside of hybrid cars is the weight of the batteries. But in a tractor, weight is a good thing. So, why no hybrid tractors?

Look, a hybrid tractor could work. When I'm under load, the diesel would kick in. Plowing, bush hogging, etc - the diesel would carry the load.

But when I'm moving from field to field, or carrying the FEL full, the hybrid could kick in.

Why not? What do you guys think?

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Sounds expensive...:thumbsup:

 

[Johndeere3720]

That is a very good idea. There are a lot of different ways to power tractors, i cant see why that wouldnt work.

 

[not2old]

It's OK if you can build it yourself and are then able to fix it. I believe in the kiss principle in almost everything. Can you imagine the bill when getting it fixed? Look at the Toyota Prius. Between the cost of purchase and value for resale, this car costs more to own than the regular model.

 

[vaskeet]

check out this diesel hybrid that cummins was working on It uses the waste heat of the diesel to generate and drive a steam engine Randy
Cummins ISX Diesel Engine - Diesel Tech - Diesel Power Magazine

 

[mdelmarcelle]

It's my understanding that hybrids increase fuel efficiency because they capture engery that is typically lost during normal driving, mostly braking or coasting downhill. And they save fuel by shutting the gas engine off while stopped. With a tractor, there isn't really a lot of braking going on that results in lost energy. And the wear and tear that would occur by stopping and starting a deisel engine when it's stopped would probably outway the fuel saved. Capturing the heat from the exhaust and using it to power a steam engine is a neat concept. But I imgaine he upkeep and cost of the steam engine would outway the savings as well.

Perhaps a way to increase fuel efficiency using the hybrid concept would be to capture solar engery. Cars typically don't have the surface area to capture a significant amount of solar energy. But perhaps one could make a large trailer to carry a large solar panel to capture a relatively substantial amount of energy. I'm guessing the amount of engery captured, however, would be less the the amount of engery it would take to pull the trailer through a soft, bumpy field.

 

[chrisott]

OK, the tractor could handle the battery size. Now how is the battery going to be recharged after it is depleted? The Prius recharges the battery while the car is coasting and while the brakes are gently applied. I can't imagine either of these activities in a tractor accounting for very much recharging. I'm not knocking the idea, just pointing out one of the challenges.

 

[crazyal]

How often is your tractor not under load? When I start mine up I let it idle to warm up then it's off to work we go. If snow blowing it's less than a minute while if dragging logs I may spend a few minutes driving to the log. The steering is hydraulically powered so the steering would need to be converted to electricity.

Of course if done right the wheels would be powered with an electric motor, maybe with a couple of gears so there would be no need for a clutch and speed control would be just like a HST.

 

[stlawrence]

Hmmm. All good points - how would the batteries be recharged? How often is a tractor not under load? What damage would be done to a diesel engine, cutting on and off? How irritating would it be to have the diesel cutting off, then on again - it's not like a quiet car, where you hardly hear the engine anyway.

I guess these are all good reasons why I am not in charge of product development at John Deere.

Still and all, as Dad used to say, with the cost of diesel going up and up, there has to be something - maybe the biodiesel is an answer.

Maybe for dairy farmers, somehow capturing the methane from the manure production could be a solution.

Question is, in 30 years will we still have tractors essentially as they are now, or will there be significant mechanical differences?

 

[mike69440]

I can see Hybrid tractor used on larger TLB's etc, where you can use a smaller motor to store energy for times where you need burst power over short time intevals, but for normal machines, that do PTO and ground engagement, little ROI.