LIKE if you think electric machinery is the way forward & SHARE if you want more people to be aware of alternatives to polluting combustion engines. See full description below... Robert heads down to Bemborough Farm in Gloucestershire to try out the Farmtrac 25G electric tractor. The first of its kind in the country, this 4x4 electric tractor is a brilliant first step towards electrifying bigger and more powerful farming machinery. With pressures on farmers to reduce their carbon footprint, a tractor that can be powered by wind or solar energy generated on the farm makes a lot of sense. Fully Charged is 100% independent thanks to KZread Memberships (join above) and Patreons (join via www.patreon.com/fullychargedshow). Online news, views & reviews: FullyCharged.Show LIVE exhibitions in USA, UK & Europe: FullyCharged.Show/events Twitter: twitter.com/fullychargedshw Instagram: instagram.com/fullychargedshow *Timestamps* 0:00 Down at the Farm 1:41 Robert talks to Adam Henson 3:28 The Economics of Electric 5:30 Farmtrac 25G Facts & Stats 8:04 From Horse to Horsepower & Beyond 9:39 Renewable Powered Farms 12:23 At the End of the Day 14:42 Support & Subscribe

@roberthiggins6401

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Robert. Look up case new Holland hydrogen tractor and hopefully make an episode on it.

@asadnaveed2834

3 жыл бұрын

Inshallah it is the way forward

@VillageTV

3 жыл бұрын

thanks

@martyndavies1482

3 жыл бұрын

@Harry M Asad is saying God be willing it is the way forward.

@williamarmstrong7199

3 жыл бұрын

@Harry M that means "God Willing" as in "God Willing" this is the way forward. For some people everything comes from God.. anyone looking impartially at religious controlled governments (as in the USA etc) would dispute this. Satan may be..

I've worked on a couple of farms for ten years driving motorised equipment. The lack of noise is such a big plus. And you can hear how the actual equipment is doing/holding up.

@user-jt1jv8vl9r

3 жыл бұрын

I work at an airport and the noise from all the diesel vehicles, trucks, belts, tugs etc is unbearable at time. If only the aircraft could land and taxi under battery power. That would be bliss. lol

@contradnamiseb3022

3 жыл бұрын

@@user-jt1jv8vl9r even then there'd be turbine noise.

@87vortex87

3 жыл бұрын

@@user-jt1jv8vl9r o yea, that's far worse than my example, lol. The thing is, now that I know that things can be more quiet I notice the amount of noise all around me. Maybe it's me getting older now though, lol. But just scooters, mopeds, diesel trains, cars, etc. It is just insane how much noise there is. I live in an apartment in the city nowadays and my sound pressure on my balcony is 62dB average. Just image that every 3dB increase is doubling sound pressure. It's just insane.

@itsfahys

3 жыл бұрын

Could probably also reduce Farm Accidents as well as although it is quiet would allow you hear other people moving behind the Tractor

@moconnell663

3 жыл бұрын

I watch videos from Engles Coach Works. He works on lots of farm wagons meant to be pulled by horses that were wrecked by tractors because the operator couldn't hear that they needed greasing over the tractor noise.

PROPER JOB!!! God I miss the Barely Pickers on Scrapheap challenge!

@grayfool

3 жыл бұрын

Me too. That was a great series. Please Robert, bring it back.

@ColinRichardson

3 жыл бұрын

@@grayfool Would love to see Andy (?)'s reaction to an electric special scrapheap.

@grayfool

3 жыл бұрын

@@ColinRichardson Ha ha! Oh yeah. I can just see him stripping the motor out of an electric loco and scrounging every battery in the county. Epic. Oh please Robert, you have to do this.

@danielwhyatt3278

3 жыл бұрын

Really hope they bring back Scrapheap Challenge someday.

@rogerlafrance6355

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, converting an old overpowered Teslar into a tractor!

I used to be a tractor driver on the farm, and love the idea of small Electric tractors around the yard, inside building or green houses. But big machines out combining: burning 80 litres per hour, that's at least two Tesla car batteries per hour, average 20 hours per day (multiple hot seat drivers). Practically would be good to have say 10 hours of power. So somehow will need to simultaneously fast charge more than 20 Tesla car batteries twice a day in a field! (Combine harvesters often don't go back to the yard for days at a time) And probably not practical to swap a large battery (may weigh over 20 tons), would need a crane. and of course need two batteries costing what half a million pounds each, plus an additional driver transporting the charge battery around and getting it recharged somewhere/somehow? Compared with cheap red diesel at 45p per litre, and refueled with over 1000 litres in minutes from a tanker parked in the corner of the field. I love electric cars and want that tractor please! But from my past experience, I don't believer the current technology or battery price is yet practical or cost effective, for big farm machinery working remotely in the fields. Today's harvest can't wait for the future, it may be raining tomorrow and its ruined!

@jonjudge41

3 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same thing actually, hopefully someone comes up with a solution though.

@shonunezekiel

3 жыл бұрын

Steve - assuming a solution could be found (eg providing continuous power from the mains, or a mini fleet of automated 'refueler' vehicles that drive alongside and charge up the large machine as it is working) how much is being spent on fuel on one of these per year, and what would the cost savings be from using mains electricity instead? Widespread adoption is going to come down to economics (ie why Prius is such a popular car for UK minicabs), and was wondering where the crossover point will be where the additional machinery and infrastructure cost of electric is overtaken by the more expensive fuelling cost of diesel.

@DuncanAitken

3 жыл бұрын

Indeed, very good points! Something I've been thinking of myself over the years. I suspect part of the solution could be higher efficiencies that can be gained (replace all of the belts/pulleys/chain drives with direct drive motors instead). As well as multiple smaller machines working in tandem. Another thing about larger machines (combine harvesters in particular) is how often they sit idle, out of season. It'd make sense to utilize that asset every day (grid power arbitrage/load shifting).

@gormauslander

3 жыл бұрын

That is something that people who like to play with the surface idea tend to miss; we can't sit and wait 20 hours for a battery to charge. We can't swap out a battery every 5 minutes either. Swapping would be made much more feasible if your farm had a docking station installed where you sort of back it into a plug and drop it, then move over a bit to the next pack which has been charging. You just slide them on and off like a drill battery. You still need high energy density though

@DuncanAitken

3 жыл бұрын

@@gormauslander Oh, I do understand that point and do agree. A harvest can't wait! I think we will get there in the next few years though; 450-500wh/kg, as well as having greater efficiency. Similar problems (although not as much of a 'burst' problem) exist with heavy duty long haul trucks - this too will likely be solved in the next few years. As for the battery swap, that's an great idea. I can envision autonomous module swapping units stationed at various intervals around the field, as needed. With the right engineering (and equipment type), you can even potentially perform this swap with near zero downtime of operation...

Unless you've worked on a farm you might not fully appreciate how really unpleasant the noise, vibrations, and fumes from a diesel engine is when subjected to it for hours and hours on end.

@electroplaque

3 жыл бұрын

I mean we know just normal air pollution shortens our lifespan, so I'd imagine a career driving a diesel tractor might be pretty bad as well.

@NaokiWatanabe

3 жыл бұрын

It's the vibrations and noise. You need vibration absorbing seats and an enclosed cabin or earphones if you're on a tractor for any length of time. Electric motors just makes working with heavy equipment so much more tolerable.

@jonmccormick8683

3 жыл бұрын

The best part of these electric tractors is that you can hear the implements working and listen to when things are working or not working. -A big game changer for farmers.

@williamarmstrong7199

3 жыл бұрын

Safety also. No one can hear a shouted warning over the noise of the tractor engines. Savings can be made on new tractors in reduced sound proofing when electric too.

@therealcaldini

3 жыл бұрын

william armstrong Been there done that. “Somebody get this tractor off my foot!”

I always wondered when agricultural vehicles were to transition to electric. With their own windmills or solar panels on barns they can be completely independent. It will also lower the theft of red diesel fuel. The significantly lower maintenance costs will also be a huge benefit to farmers.

@timmurphy5541

3 жыл бұрын

Solar power is apparently doing exceedingly well in Afghanistan - because the well pumps that don't need diesel and never need maintenance pay off quickly. Unfortunately the main crop is opium.

@timmurphy5541

3 жыл бұрын

@A N Other Only if you're a drug lord or someone equally diabolcal. Can't imagine what interest such a person would have in Fully Charged though.

@toughkix6910

3 жыл бұрын

Tim Murphy ohhh someone is watching now you know ;)

@timmurphy5541

3 жыл бұрын

@Tony Edgecombe They may just produce more which would be bad but it just shows you that where the economics work well, one doesn't have to argue about climate issues or explain the ethics.

@williamarmstrong7199

3 жыл бұрын

@@timmurphy5541 i know that every hit of Heroin puts bullets into Taliban fighters.. so why are heroin users not treated as funding terrorism? And drug dealers treated the same way. Use anti terrorism laws against them and save lives of both users and people who are the victims of terrorism .

Now I have the song "Old Llewelyn had a farm" stuck in my head for the day. Great episode anyway!

@snowstrobe

3 жыл бұрын

Oh thanks for that... jeez.

Wow a "Made in India" tractor. Good to see ! Electric is really making its way through

Great episode. Love seeing non-car episodes. i.e. delivery vans, tractors, boats, ferries, motorcycles, e-bikes, etc etc. What I would really löööve to see is a garbage truck. A nice electric quiet garbage truck. That will be a quality of life upgrade for many! Also: he says the solar panels are at about 50kW. And that's with a bit over half the space on the roof of one barn covered! I see at least two more barns. That could get you a LOT of power. Hope he has batteries hooked up to those.

@zapfanzapfan

3 жыл бұрын

Maybe that is the limit for his electrical connection? 400 V 3-phase 63 A gets you 43 kW, which he is probably always below with 50 kW of panels on that roof.

@GustavSvard

3 жыл бұрын

@@zapfanzapfan That does makes sense. The cost of getting a bigger line to the farm installed is probably real hefty. So not worth doing unless the farm (and neighbours?) go for solar in a big way.

@zapfanzapfan

3 жыл бұрын

@@GustavSvard Maybe with a big enough battery, either stationary or on wheels in one of the tractors. Maybe the electrical connection will be the problem for big electric tractors, combines etc, can't charge them fast enough.

@Drhiggythered

3 жыл бұрын

there is so much wasted roof space (barn or other) in the UK you would think it would be feasible for power companies to rent this space from farmers and put solar panels on them. I pass a field of solar panels next to the A50 - surely these would be better on roofs.

@nakfan

3 жыл бұрын

In Norway, Oslo, one of the Renovation contractors already has several electric garbage trucks. Everyone love them.

It's the sort of machine that Dick Strawbridge could make use of in the grounds of his Chateau. Knowing him he'd probably build his own wind turbine to power it.

@andrewrobotbuilder

3 жыл бұрын

Ah a fellow 'Escape to the Chateau' fan! The whole family watches it after we bought a house in France (nothing like his but we're about 2 hours away from him!)

@martyndavies1482

3 жыл бұрын

Yes! When are we going to have EVs with wind turbines on them? Its the only true self charging vehicle!

@MrGonzonator

3 жыл бұрын

Ohh! Bobby and Dick together again! Yes please!

@henrypotter3024

3 жыл бұрын

It's Dick Still on TV? I can't remember what it was called years ago when he and his family first moved out to the farm, I liked that show. Guess I'll check Google.

@MrGonzonator

3 жыл бұрын

@@henrypotter3024 Escape to the Chateau. It's in Season 6 on Channel 4.

I feel somewhat Proud as an Indian, that Agri Machinery Companies from my country are doing innovations and setting benchmarks in their respective industries❤️🔥

I love how the farmer trusted Robert, to cut the weeds :-)

@ursodermatt8809

3 жыл бұрын

well, we didn't see the farmer cringing behind shed suddenly doing prayers

@TJMack-

3 жыл бұрын

Adam is a celebrity in his own right. He appears on "Country File" on BBC1 on Sunday evenings in the UK. Kate Humble (remember her?) is likely a mutual friend of them both.

It's wonderful seeing Robert gleefully mowing the weeds on a quiet electric tractor. Proper job! :)

I've never seen a man so happy

@patdavey7187

3 жыл бұрын

@Steveness stiffler ok perhaps I have never seen Robert so happy

My farmer/inventor/mechanic/machinist husband built Sparky about 10 years ago.....fully electric with 3 solar panels as the roof. She's the main (small) tractor on our small farm in Creston, BC, Canada. As he builds/converts implements for the tractor or to plug in the inverter, Sparky just becomes more invaluable!

They are about to make Bigger 90 to 110 HP Farmtrac Tractors... fully electric.. GPS guided Tractors.. stay tuned MADE IN INDIA 🇮🇳

@DVLOGSYT

3 жыл бұрын

@Heads Mess kubota Joint venture is only for.making kubota tractors for indian market in india.. and using each others sales channels. My business is related to this company

say "Proper Job" say "Proper Job" say "Proper Job" You did!

I’m in love with this tractor 😊 The size would be perfect where I live: people don’t have acre above acre around here, but rather smallish fields; and lighter equipment is less damaging to the soil.

Having grown up in farming all I can say is how lucky future generations are, started off on Massey's, Countys , Muir Hill's some with noisy rattley cabs. Then went on to drive newer models with Q cabs, never forget getting to drive a 590 with a q cab......wow!! Less noise and no fumes, I am jealous , well done all those involved.

Thank you for this wonderful episode. For slow moving vehicles like tractor, we can put ~400W solar roof on them. For this tractor that draws about 3000W (21kWh battery size, 7 hours duty), this additional trickle generation gives 3.2 kWh during 8 hours, effectively extending the duty cycle by a meaningful 1 hour. Shading the driver is added bonus.

@ColinMill1

3 жыл бұрын

Bear in mind that tractors need to do more than topper a few light weeds. Plowing uses about 24kWh per acre and discing about 11kWh per acre so this tractor can plow less than an acre and disc less than two on a charge.

Perfect for a golf course I would have thought.

@mralistair737

3 жыл бұрын

especially if you attached a plough to it and dug the damned things up.

@siemensol83

3 жыл бұрын

@@mralistair737 😂😂😂😂

I saw it last night on catchup TV. You two were having far too much fun! Give us a go! Please ;)

I grew up in Corpus Christi , Texas surrounded by corn fields and farms , my mom still lives on her ranch with cattle and horses and Thank you for doing this episode! so happy to seen clean energy coming. Even the old Rancher down there says he would love to see the Cybertruck or Electric Trucks and Electric Tractors because he knows how much power an electric motor has and he says in his slightly Texan hillbilly voice when I say Gas versus Electric , he says "well , I think electric would win , mainly because it doesn't get BOGGED DOWN" - good stuff

I love the shots from the drone in the beginning of the video!! looks great

Fendt of Germany has had its e100 EV 100kw 60HP Tractor with Type 2 Connector in Production since 2018

@zogworth

3 жыл бұрын

Loads of construction equipment is moving to hybrid as well.

@zarbonida

3 жыл бұрын

Not avaible so far

Napoleon in the background: 'Diesel bad... electric gooder.'

A small golf course would be a perfect fit for that tractor. Thank you for showing the tractor and sharing this video!

Farmtrac is a part of the ESCORTS GROUP, which is an Indian Farm and Construction Equipment Manufacturer. Happy to see an Indian company behind this!

It needs a cab and the it’s perfect for vineyards and orchards

@TelmoMonteiro

3 жыл бұрын

Vineyards - this is exactly what I thought

@vinayakbhardwaj4497

3 жыл бұрын

You can reach Reesink turfcare to get the answers.

@TuttleScott

3 жыл бұрын

a cab with a roof made of solar panels!

@lukasdolezal8245

3 жыл бұрын

I believe you can order this one with a cabin

@Grumpy_old_Boot

3 жыл бұрын

@@TuttleScott I'm sorry to say, that the amount of solar panels you can put on the roof of a tractor cabin, wouldn't make a difference. They use so much energy, compared to what they would get from the solar panels, that it just doesn't make sense. Solar on the barns makes some sense, though what you really want, is a small field with Solar modules mounted on solar trackers. That's what you want! The trackers make such a huge difference. Particularly dual axis solar trackers are good!

Great to see the electric influence reaching out to agriculture. Looks like Kubota have invested in the company , so watch this space. Perfect for smallholders.

Learned a lot today. Thank you.

I have a 1956 Renault D30 tractor here in France. I use it for mowing the field and hauling logs from the coppice wood we have about 5 mins from here. We used to keep the grass in the field short using the tractor but don’t bother any more. We have planted the field out with trees and let the grass and wild flowers do their thing..resulting in an influx of butterflies and other insects which attracts more birds feeding on them. We have an electric mower to cut pathways between the trees so we can enjoy all the wildlife...Then I use the tractor at the end of the summer to take out the tall grass and keep brambles down. Everything else we have is electric (e-Niro car of course)...mower, trimmer and chainsaw (Ego-Power)...So last year I bought 20 litres of diesel for the tractor which uses about two litres an hour...The old stone house has been renovated and insulated, heated with 3 wood burning stoves, most of the firewood coming from our own or others local coppicing. It would be great to replace the 3 cylinder diesel engine on the Renault...my last fossil fuel machine which I have to confess I am rather attached to.

Alright then, I am off to start to my own fully electric equipment manufacturing company

@josephbenadam

3 жыл бұрын

Good luck brother. I'm based in the Canary Islands, Spain hoping to start my own farming business. Keep in touch !

@philtimmons722

2 жыл бұрын

You thinking Battery or Cord -- or Mixed?

Definitely the way forward. I would imagine that the larger tractors will need removable batteries so one or more can be charging from the PV/turbine system while one is in use. I know when harvest and seeding is on here in Western Australia those machines run almost around the clock, there would be no tolerance for multiple hours of charging with the machine not working.

@jur4x

3 жыл бұрын

Yep. And in some regions of the world your farming is limited by weather so it is 24h operatuon for few days and then no qork for a week or something. Where I used to live back in the day, we could plow as long as possible, but harvesting was only possible from sunrise to sunset. So you would want to use every minute available. Driver had lunch breaks, machines didn't.

@cros13

3 жыл бұрын

There already are larger tractors like the Fendt e100, they have DC rapid charging. If you are spending €200k+ on a tractor your farm probably has three phase power and it's only ~€20k to buy a 50kW CCS rapid charger.

@snowstar1998

3 жыл бұрын

Same in Germany. Last year they really didn't need to hurry, rain felt like a distant memory. We literally had no real rain for months and that is definitely not normal. A few years back the machines had to work 24 hours, only breaks for refuelling. To cover those years they would either need removable batteries or hydrogen powered machines or something we never heard of.

@andrewradford3953

3 жыл бұрын

I think leasing of additional batteries during high use times could work. Most likely plugged in, in addition to the on-board battery. Maybe in 30-50kg units so they can be man handled.

@rogerbarton497

3 жыл бұрын

@@andrewradford3953 And when not needed the batteries could be used for grid storage so you wouldn't have an expensive asset sat around doing nothing.

Great episode, Robert. Super interesting!

Fantastic innovators, full electric tractors and plenty of solar panel producing their own energy. Great lesson guys.

80 ltrs an hour = 800KwH of raw energy 30% efficient = 240KwH per hour of energy typical combine starts at about 7am and runs until 10pm so 15 hours 15 x 240 = 3600KwH Thats quite a big battery pack

@KieronTaylor

3 жыл бұрын

My only rebuttal here is that in an automated farming scenario you would probably look to install docking stations for your farm machinery, so they would charge themselves as and when. This doesn't really work for the hurry hurry hurry harvest, but it can work well for routine spraying and irrigation, or even automated picking of fruit where ripeness doesn't necessarily come all at once. Big machinery with high duty will remain a problem for electrification, as it is with haulage at the moment, whereas sporadic stop-go behaviour like bus routes or towing stuff around the farm to where it's needed is much more tractable.

@cormacsheedy3522

3 жыл бұрын

Though the same myself , tractors run hard in the summer and offer unbelievable horse power

@321tryagain

3 жыл бұрын

It would be impressive to get 30% efficiency from a combustion engine. 80% is achievable with an electric motor. So 1000kWh is more likely. Perhaps 2x 350kWh battery, changed 3x per day would be the way to do it.

@thinfourth

3 жыл бұрын

@@KieronTaylor okay stick a 1000KwH battery pack in it which is still stupid big and will weigh in about 6 tons That gives you 4 hours before a recharge On the farm i live in they recharge the combine by a bloke in a pickup comes to the combine and throws a ton of diesel in it and it is good for another day If you have to take the cutterhead off to drive back to the farm you are looking at an hour JUST for that and drviing back and then returning to the field For high power applications an electric farm machinery is decades away For low power applictions like towing trailers then i can see them working

@thelight3112

3 жыл бұрын

Ideally there should be some way to have it operate hardwired. At energy levels ljke that, I imagine it would be easier to engineer some sort of power line management system than make a 3.6 MwH battery pack.

So, in order to make the battery last, the manufacturer removes the rear guard from the flail in order to reduce the power demand by not mulching. Clever, until a stone kills someone.

Great Episode & Beautiful Farm + Animals!!! Thanks

Such a fun video! Thanks so much! 😉

First thought was especially with combines they often work for long hours, 20 odd hours a day, so the recharging time wouldn't make it viable, however then thought, if you have replaceable batteries then that is manageable, might even be quicker to change batteries than to fill up a fuel tank. The other point is that combines aren't used for long periods during the year, they could be plugged into the wind/solar on the farm and managed so that you an sell the electricity from your batteries, so instead of a combine slowly depreciating over the time it's not in use can get some income from the batteries.. Just a thought....

@mralistair737

3 жыл бұрын

towable battery packs that can be on a combine one week and a tractor the next and as you say, plugged into the solar panels for the next month (or doing V2G)

@vokstar

3 жыл бұрын

@@mralistair737 Didn't think about towable packs, to be honest tho, you could use the packs in any machine if they where designed properly, or standardised. I think there will be a huge VHS Beta moment coming up with electric vehicles.

@morosis82

3 жыл бұрын

@@vokstar towable would make sense from the point of having it waiting in a remote field somewhere, but a lot of tractors spend their time towing machinery behind them. That said, I think that idea is amazing, v2g so your farmer can become backup power to the grid when it's not out plowing or harvesting, which is most of the time.

@morosis82

3 жыл бұрын

It's a little understood thing I think, were not going to need millions of grid batteries for power arbitrage when there are literally millions of vehicles of all types that will be sitting around for 95% of their lives.

@MrGonzonator

3 жыл бұрын

If your going to the expense of multiple battery packs and or trailers why not just install a 1km cable reeler and run it straight from a three phase mains? Yeah, you need to install high power pick ups in each field but it eliminates the battery degradation, weight etc allowing higher utility on the vehicle itself. Just don't run over your cable!

Nice job! Nice machine. In the whole concept of scaling up, there already are electric mining trucks which are.. huge. And quite interesting too! And they have been for quite some time too as weight is not a problem.

@henrypotter3024

3 жыл бұрын

There are electric farm tractors too. Some with batteries some, believe it or not, with extension cords. Though I think he said "commercially available in the U.K."

Totally impressed. I need one of those!

Perhaps strangely, I watched this n thought to myself how wonderfully satisfying it looked to be sat there atop yer 'lectric tractor slicing through all the weeds with a gentle breeze blowing in your face. Alas, I’ve only got a suburban garden and once let loose with a machine like this, I’d doubtless lay waste to fences, sheds and flower beds over several properties - but oh how thrilling it would be!

That's a cow, this is a tractor, great insights there 🤣 great episode yet again, keep up the good work!

@stamfordly6463

3 жыл бұрын

Not that many insights really as they missed out major sticking point, there is no regen in most agricultural applications. Yyou take your foot off the power when cultivating and you stop dead because you're working against soil resistance. Unlike a car a tractor or a combine is using most of it's rated output most of the time.

I'm looking forward to seeing some electric battle tanks next ! an electric drive train should be a good match for such vehicles I'd think.

I've watched Rob mow two lawns with an electric lawn mower now. And loved every second of it. ;D

Back in the 60s/70s GE made an electric garden tractor called the Elec-Trac, and it was quite capable. One of the energy saving features was that rather than a PTO, it had power plugs and attachments would have their own motors. You can avoid the losses of a shaft drive and gear boxes, extending runtime. It would be nice to see compact and full size tractor attachments go this route.

Be very interested to see a total cost of ownership analysis (with a representative level of usage and timescale) of this versus an equivalent diesel tractor.

@MOOBOOSE

3 жыл бұрын

That’s the most relevant analysis

@ColinMill1

3 жыл бұрын

One of the important factors in this is the way farm machinery is intensively used but only for short periods of the year - 24hrs/day for a few days during harvesting but much less at other times. I looked at the hours on 10 year old tractors for sale in the UK and it varies from 3000 to 12,000 with most in the 5000-6000 range. To run electrically almost continuously during the harvest you would need multiple batteries with off-vehicle charging and the infrastructure to provide charging proximal to the fields being worked. This then stands substantially idle for much of the rest of the year. Tractors have very long working lives and there are many 20 year-old tractors that are worth well over £50,000. It's still an open question as to how batteries will hold up over service lives of 20 years and more.

Love the scrapheap challenge quote!! Great show it was! Seriously though leccy is perfect for farming, high torque, relatively low mileage requirements, roofspace for solar, landspace for large turbines. As Adam said, alternative power generation such as digesters could be used too. Absolutely could be a game changer.

@stefanweilhartner4415

3 жыл бұрын

look at that roof space. he has already 50kW installed and there is much more space left. there is really no shortage in energy.

@jamiegwozdzicki6079

3 жыл бұрын

Totally agree! And farming is already expensive. I imagine paybacks would be much quicker at this scale for these guys

@stefanweilhartner4415

3 жыл бұрын

@@jamiegwozdzicki6079 farming is not expensive but it is very competitive

@bernardfender5147

3 жыл бұрын

@@stefanweilhartner4415 £300k for a harvester, £100k for a decent tractor with no tools. I bet to differ, modern farming is very expensive.

@bernardfender5147

3 жыл бұрын

@@stefanweilhartner4415 I know right! He could make more money generating energy as farming...and no early starts!! But we would all starve!

AWESOME job Robert! I want to see an episode with you trying out electric commercial planes :)

I'm in love with electric tractors !!! Farming without carbon ! Just electrons !!! Woooot !

This is fantastic! I have a farm and would love to buy an electric ride on mower. Can you do a story on these too?

Hope they plan on selling world-wide, I can see the Japanese would go mad for this, they seem to love micro-machinery for their farms.

Great stuff Robert, thank you.

The worzels " combine harvester" tune came to mind. Can't wait to see these out on Fields around me.

You imagine if everyone rated their cars in litres per minute @ idle cost. There was a guy parked next to the shops the other day, just sitting there with his engine running. No idea how long he had been sitting there with it idling. He was STILL there when i came out 5 minutes later. If someone was able to mention to him, the car costs 45p per minute to keep that engine idling, I am sure he would soon stop.

@AndrewStrydomBRP

3 жыл бұрын

Good idea actually, engineering explained had a video on how much fuel is used when idling vs when switching on the engine. surely the math can be averaged with some of the data he provided?

@TheDarrenJones

3 жыл бұрын

I agree, but I'd be surprised if it was anywhere near 45p per minute. That would be about a gallon every 12 minutes - 5 gallons per hour. I don't think most are anywhere near that. Last car I had with a fuel computer said it was a couple of litres per hour. I think most people like that would say "I can afford it" anyway. The environmental impact angle is far less defensible from a 'personal liberty' point of view.

@Oosh21

3 жыл бұрын

For a modern 2L petrol engine you burn about 600 ml per hour (1,000 ml/hr with AC on). Conveniently that's 10 ml per minute (16.7 ml/hr with AC). I know fuel is expensive in the UK, but 45p per minutue equates to 45 quid per litre (or even 27 if we assume a worse case with AC), approx. 120 to 200 quid per gallon? Idling is wasteful, noisey, and stinky but it isn't all that expensive.

@ColinRichardson

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheDarrenJones it just happened to be the numbers given in this video. I was using as an example

@randomjasmicisrandom

3 жыл бұрын

Colin Richardson alternatively it could just be made illegal to idle your car like it is in Germany, and more importantly, then enforced.

Electric pump noise? Play some music & you'll drown that out 😉 Great piece of kit, well done, looks good for the future Rob

Robert is so much fun. :)

Loved this one! That's exactly what I needed

@TelmoMonteiro

3 жыл бұрын

I can see so many people with vine yards wanting this small machine. And lots of village's people would find this the right tool for the job

Hope to see some of these on Caravan and Motorhome Club Sites, should make it a whole lot quieter!

Probably fuel cell (H2) power (rather than battery only) would be more suitable for full scale agricultural vehicles.

PRAAPER JAAB!! What a series scrapheap was!

Fantastic innovators, full electric tractors and plenty of solar panels producing their own energy, and maybe some kind of battery swapping at the end of the day. Great lesson guys. Energy independence forever.

Amazing I would love one, however they need to sort the noise from the electric pump out.

@mralistair737

3 жыл бұрын

if someone was driving arround with a load of spinning blades, i wouldn't mind a bit more notice of their approach.

@scunnerdarkly4929

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, that pump noise is an absolute deal-breaker. I demand absolute silence!

@davebarton9301

3 жыл бұрын

Scunner Darkly you obviously don’t suffer with tinnitus! I do and high pitch noises can make life very uncomfortable.

@gwarlow

3 жыл бұрын

Dave Barton You mean noises like the ubiquitous "back up alarms" on virtually every delivery truck out there? Drives me batty.

Would of been more convincing if someone had done his home work and did the sums, to compare running cost with a diesel equivalent to see how long the return would be on that extra 8 grand, and then scaled it up to see the same comparison on a combined harvester! Especially if you already have solar on you’re barn roof 50kw 5000 pounds a year, I don’t think it would take that long to make a return on that investment, especially when you can get cooperative investment group to help put up a wind turbine on you’re own land as well! You need to push the sell a little Robert!

@ahaveland

3 жыл бұрын

The return on investment is not just the money saved. There are also external less tangible returns.

@edmundbell-king4538

3 жыл бұрын

Well, if that had actually looked at the subsidy diesel gets throughout its supply-chain (including tax breaks and exploration subsidies for big oil) there would be a much closer comparison to be made.

@herpnderpn2484

3 жыл бұрын

@@edmundbell-king4538 Oil companies the world over have announced no more massive exploration. It's not cost effective and we already have more oil on tap than they think we will use. As an aside, the upfront cost is higher for electric. Fuel costs pays for the electric somewhere in the first 3000 hours typically. Can't forget that everything 'green' is almost unanimously subsidized by advanced economies.

What people don't realise is the noise of petrol and diesel tractors, even garden tractors. This thing will be revolutionary.

Love seeing people who don’t usually drive agricultural machines drive them. Always have a huge grin on their faces!😀

When farming, the windows for harvesting are short. This is one of the quite few areas where I see hydrogen being a real alternative. You really need to be able to go 24/7 when the crop is ready. Batteries cannot do that for now, and if it could, the load on the grid for fast charging battery packs (had to be swapable, must charge faster than power is used) would be rather large. Sharing batteries between equipment though, would be good. Rarely does all the tractors run while the combine runs etc.

@sroberts605

3 жыл бұрын

Interesting thoughts - perhaps a system of off-loading/changing batteries to suit the machine would be one way to offset costs and efficiencies. Is this kind of transition best decided by open market and capitalism? Only really wondering because of the potential for integrating batteries with competing brands and grid storage. It's a tricky transition.

Oh, Robert you're mixing up price and cost again: Price is set by the marketing department independent of cost (as long as price is bigger then cost). It's natural that the first on the market exploit their position. As with EV manufacturers are victims of worldwide battery manufacturing under-capacity. That will be resolved in under 5years and the $100/kwh will be felt by all. One thing you didn't cover was the high maintenance of their current machinery.

@zogworth

3 жыл бұрын

Or indeed less than cost if they have venture capital to burn and a monopoly to form.

@Paul_Y_T

3 жыл бұрын

where was Robert talking about manufacturer's cost? the only thing I saw was him talking about end user cost where his usage was perfectly correct.

@SimonCoates

3 жыл бұрын

High maintenance cost? I'm not sure if that true. That tractor is basically a conventional tractor with the diesel engine swapped for electric motors. Industrial diesel engines tend to be very reliable and a great deal of maintenance costs and replacement parts are not engine related. I have a New Holland T4020 which cost a similar price to the Farmtrac tractor and in nearly 12 years I've barely spent anything on it other that oil, filters and grease, and it still looks like new. I have doubts whether that Indian manufactured electric tractor would be as reliable over the same period of time.

@RAHellemans

3 жыл бұрын

@@SimonCoates Low maintenance costs as long as you change the the oils regularly, tension belt etc. Not cheap.

@ColinMill1

3 жыл бұрын

@@SimonCoates I have Massey Ferguson 35x of 1963 vintage and it is still doing a full day's work. How many batteries will an e-tractor go through in that sort of time?

Love what this represents for the future!!

Love the music choices. Great. Thank you for the video. Superb content. It will just be a matter of time when all these machines will run electric.

We are missing the most important info on this video though What's the 0-60mph on that beast?

@therealcaldini

3 жыл бұрын

Noob lade No picture of the boot space either.

@Nooblade

3 жыл бұрын

@@therealcaldini No window resistance test either.

@ZesPak

3 жыл бұрын

It doesn't have a 0-60 for obvious reasons.

@therealcaldini

3 жыл бұрын

ZesPak I don’t get it. What are those obvious reasons?

@EleanorPeterson

3 жыл бұрын

@@ZesPak - Um... Whoosh?

Oi bet there be an EU subsidy fur thaat. O bugger, not again, oi didn't think o thaat

You’ve got to start somewhere. Very nice positive story. Thanks! Also nice to see a piece with Adam that doesn’t end “sadly, three weeks later, all the lambs died”.

Never seen Bobby so happy

My old Ford can plant hemp and run on the bio oil ... Can this plant batteries?

I still feel for the bigger kit, hydrogen is the best way. Can you guys at fully charged go and take a look at the new JCB hydrogen fuel cell 20t excavator? Love to see it working.

@caerphoto

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, much as I think hydrogen or fuel-cell is a dead-end for road-going vehicles, for specialist applications like this I think it's a good fit. Then again, if battery technology improves enough, hydrogen still might end up being redundant, who knows?

@morosis82

3 жыл бұрын

Honestly depends on utilisation I think. From a productive POV, you would have less downtime on a machine over a 24hr period that ran hydrogen. A shared BEV machine with much higher utilisation would murder it in cost though, so either harvesters for hire when you need them so you don't have them sitting around except for a few days a year, or swappable batteries that are available in the same way when you need higher utilisation would be the way. I actually did some maths on hydrogen for shipping, spoiler alert: it doesn't really work. Not if we want to replace all of the bunker/diesel, unless there's a 4 fold increase in efficiency somewhere.

@snowstrobe

3 жыл бұрын

That was my thoughts as well. The sharing the farmer was talking about with the other farms around.. they could share a hydrogen converter. If the govn was serious about 2040 they would help this get set up. It would be a lots less worrying for farmers to convert to hydrogen than batteries. Also think it's the way to go for boats too.

@seberous

3 жыл бұрын

@@snowstrobe and trains. Coming from an agricultural background myself, I know how tight a harvest (for grain or for fodder) can be. Although big batteries or swappable batteries would work, it would be far more convenient and practical to just fill up the tank with hydrogen and away you go. The government need to get the ball rolling for smaller road EVs and large scale hydrogen availability for larger vehicles that can't afford much downtime.

@Kingsoupturbo

3 жыл бұрын

@@seberous Its got to be hydrogen for commercial trucks and farming, electric for smaller scale makes sense

Clicked on this video as soon as I saw the cover art. Just knew is going to be fun right from the start. Great that he had Adam Henson on this one. This will definitely help to get the message out there, especially if he mentions it and the channel next time on Countryfile. I look forward to seeing the BIIIIG VERSION of this baby when they come out with it.

@MrAdopado

3 жыл бұрын

err, you missed the last edition of Countryfile obviously ... happened already.

That’s a cow, this is a tractor, we are on a farm.. I’m learning so much from this channel.

Err, Robert, that was a mower not a thresher... Bloody townies lol

when a cow makes more emissions than the tractor

@heatleynoble

3 жыл бұрын

Less. A cow has a closed loop cycle with methane. And permanent grass is carbon negative.

@simonblurton8009

3 жыл бұрын

@@heatleynoble You are going to go against all the evidence, from NASA, the UN, and almost all climate scientist who spend their whole life studying climate. You must be very confident in yourself, and your ability to understand the data to say everyone else that's job is to study it is wrong, and you are right. I'm always impressed with this line of thinking, and it is possible to be right in this situation. Take Charles Darwin for exsample, he was a laughing stock at first and had to build a g Big case. I look forward to reading your work. If the billion of cows we have on the planet at anyone time are carbon negative do you think we should cut more of the Amazon down to grow more of cows to save the planet? Amazing how a billion carbon negative machines that we already have are not making a bigger impact. Your numbers are going to be very interesting.

@heatleynoble

3 жыл бұрын

@@simonblurton8009 the Oxford university studies that the data came from re permanent grassland and trees being a carbon sink reversed a lot of their findings around 6 months ago. The Amazon rainforest is cut down for Soya not cattle. Cattle are used for the first two years as a means for getting soya growing there. This is used for human consumption with the by products going to feed cattle. Electric cars have large non tail pipe emissions. There are also fewer bovines around now than there ever have been (think herds of buffalos). The 'fidnings' on methane that you are referring to have also been radically revised. I.e. all methane is reabsorbed in 10-15 years with majority being reabsorbed with first three.

@therealcaldini

3 жыл бұрын

Heatley Noble There are just under a billion cattle. 75% of the world’s soy and maize feeds cattle and they ‘waste’ 90% of the protein simply existing. CO2 is taken in by plants and converted to starch. Cattle converts that starch to methane. It’s basically a CO2 to Methane conversion process and methane is 82 times more effective as a greenhouse gas. Eventually it turns back to CO2 but for 10-15 years that carbon is much more effective at trapping the sun’s heat.

@MrJakson112

3 жыл бұрын

It already does

Excellent Review. Sent it onto my Cousin who runs an Organic Farm. Farms have plenty of space for Solar Panels, and combined with Night Rate Electricity prices it makes sense to look into this as a way or Reducing your Carbon Emissions and running costs.

Hot news: Robert in the weeds, fully charged... Keep it lit 🔥

To: FullyChargedShow The Important Basics Missing What equipment is available for this tractor? Is the couplings following any agri std for machinery? Couplings in the front and in the rear end? Lifting and towing capacity? How steep can you drive this tractor up, down, sideveis etc etc etc.... This is the basics you need to know for this video to be any useful. If possible can you nice people in the FCS please do a follow up covering this topics?

@jorditribo94

3 жыл бұрын

He is definitely not a person with a technical background. He looks at things from an "environmental" point of view.

@toffer99

3 жыл бұрын

Google is your friend

So frustrating when you see that the electric version is so much more expensive. We all know full well that the cost of making the electric drive train is cheaper than the fuel burning alternative (with a gearbox).... yet we continue with these early adopters who are willing to pay the excess cost and keep the technology alive.

@stamfordly6463

3 жыл бұрын

You still need a gearbox because unlike a car a tractor still has to deliver constant RPMs to the PTO so you need gears to be able to control the speed of the vehicle. Even if you're not using a PTO or have a separate motor (adding weight and complexity) you still need to be able to control ground speed to a greater degree than most cars.

@staceylee4071

3 жыл бұрын

There is nothing to say that every piece of farm machinery has to have a battery fitted. It would be more economic to have swappable batteries just like we have for power tools but much bigger.

@markplain2555

3 жыл бұрын

@@stamfordly6463 interesting what's a PTO??

@DuncanAitken

3 жыл бұрын

@@stamfordly6463 You only really need a gearbox for reduction - it can be fixed (like in road going EVs). The speed control is done through motor RPM. As for the price, Mark, the vast majority of the price is in the batteries. Economies of scale is still being worked on there (this is already applicable for diesel engines).

@stamfordly6463

3 жыл бұрын

@@markplain2555 Power Take-Off, a splined shaft that sticks out of the back of a tractor from which implements (like the flail topper in the video) get their power.

don't forget the swiss electric tractor Rigitrac SKE 40. Going through tall weeds is the implement that makes it possible, flail mowers are really nice in action!

My father would love one of these!

i doubt very much the 20kwh battery is able to to seven hours of "heavy work"

@ColinMill1

3 жыл бұрын

Indeed not. The flail he is using there (which is about as small as they go) will, when cutting a thick sward (rather than the tall but rather insubstantial stuff he was cutting) use about 25hp so the 21kWh battery would last about an hour - perhaps less, unless you are prepared to discharge the battery over a greater percentage of its capacity than is good for it. I'm also dubious about the £2000 price of the battery given that the tractor is costing 8 grand more than the diesel equivalent. If the manufacturer is prepared to sell the tractor with several spare batteries at £2k a pop I might start to believe it but the EV business seems determined to obfuscate the true end-user cost of batteries at every turn.

A big machine needs big batteries to complete a full working day. Its going to need a lot of charging. Now, how's the rural grid where you live? There a lot of infrastructure to build to create the Countryfile rural nirvana.

I really enjoyed the B-Roll of the farm animals.

Haha that Scrapheap Challenge "propa jaaab"! I loved that show.

It doesn't even have a loader and it's on a cattle ranch.

The thing to do is to move away from industrial farming using tractors etc. and do some permaculture or equivalent that are actually sustainable. And stop producing so much that ends up being waste like we currently do. But it's a step in the right direction still.

@meeksde

Жыл бұрын

Good luck with that

@JeremyHamaoui

Жыл бұрын

@@meeksde very interesting reply after a year... 🤦‍♂️

@meeksde

Жыл бұрын

@@JeremyHamaoui What does time have to do with anything?

Outstanding!

That is totally amazing. I know how hard it is to cut tall weeds like that. It takes an incredible amount of power.

@zarbonida

3 жыл бұрын

Ahah

Really expensive. I think retrofitting Kubota 25hp with electric system and with some correct engineering is far more interesting.

@theelectricmonk3909

3 жыл бұрын

From a "watch it on KZread" perspective, I agree - but the farming industry hasn't got the time (or the skills, often) to DIY. They need turnkey equipment - so this is a decent start.

@SolarWebsite

3 жыл бұрын

This is probably essentially handbuilt. Robert was right when he said the cost needs to come down, and for that to happen we need economies of scale. These tractors need to roll of assembly lines like John Deere tractors. At that point, the TCO will very quickly drop below that of fossil-fuel powered tractors, especially with local solar/wind power.

@XavierArte

3 жыл бұрын

@@theelectricmonk3909 some companies could do it.

Large industrial machinery and heavy duty haulage is very hard to electrify due to the large amount of energy needed. A lot of these machines are also only economical if they are working 12+ hours a day. Current battery technology cannot manage this. Harnessing waste sources, such as methane from anaerobic digestors on farms, is a more achievable and appropriate goal, while also being environmentally friendly. Theres actually some debate that once the life-cycle of a vehicle is evaluated this is actually a better option than electric as it has the potential to be carbon negative during use - methane has a global warming potential of 28 times that of carbon over 100 years, if you burn it you produce ~3 CO2 and therefore you have a negative global warming potential of 25 compared to not capturing the methane

YES! Perfect for a small farm.

Good man, Mr Rob Llewelyn! A fellow welsh man and for me, he’s known for scrap heap challenge and not really known for Agri machines!