John Deere has released a video of an all-electric concept tractor in the lead-up to the SIMA Agribusiness show in France, pointing the way toward a zero-local-emissions tractor product in the future.
In some ways, tractors seem like an ideal candidate for electrification. Electric motors are great for generating the kinds of huge torque figures tractors require, and tractors are generally fairly short range vehicles that live in the same shed every night, making for convenient recharging. They're also very low-maintenance in comparison with diesel gear.
That's the thinking behind John Deere's SESAM (Sustainable Energy Supply for Agricultural Machinery) tractor, a gutted out JD 6R with a huge battery bank up front and dual electric motors developing up to 130 kilowatts (174 horsepower) of continuous power.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 11 2016, @07:07AM
Worse, they tend to approach a perfectly spherical dimension, confirming some of the very worst theories in physics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 12 2016, @05:48AM
We have already been told in our college calculus courses to assume a spherical cow. This is how we get spherical cows.