I’m starting to see a lot of Teslas driving around my neighbourhood in Calgary. My friend brought his new Model 3 by last summer and while he was showing it off to me, four kids got off their bikes and looked it over with great excitement. It reminded me of when I was that age and someone pulled up in a Corvette. I dreamt of one day being behind the wheel of the coolest car in the world.
As General Motors, Volkswagen, Ford and other manufacturers start rolling out new electric vehicles (EVs), there are going to be some sexy vehicles, as well the more practical variety. And costs will continue to come down.
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In Canada, there are 143 models of EVs, hybrids and plug-in hybrids that qualify for federal rebates.
There’s still a premium price on EVs, but lower maintenance and fuel costs make the total cost of ownership lower.
A 2021 study by the U.S. Department of Energy showed the maintenance costs of a battery vehicle are four cents a mile lower than an equivalent vehicle using an internal combustion engine. That’s $8,000 less over the life of the vehicle.
Maintenance costs are lower because there are far fewer parts in an EV. Charging an EV is also cheaper than gasoline, especially if you’re generating your own electricity with solar panels. This made me think that there must be a similar lifetime cost advantage with battery-powered farm equipment.
“Electrification isn’t just about using batteries as the power source,” says the John Deere United Kingdom website.
“It’s about using electrical drives to replace engines and hydraulics. Electric motors have huge torque at low speeds, they’re more efficient, more reliable and lighter.”
Electrification isn’t talked about much on John Deere’s North American websites, but it is selling electric utility vehicles, which seem to be a close cousin to the electric golf cart. Apparently, there’s no leading-edge electrification underway in farms across Canada and the United States.
But in the U.K., John Deere is marketing small electric tractors, crop spraying drones, large autonomous and semi-autonomous tractors, and ground-based crop spraying electric tractors. This is a good indication of a major equipment suppliers’ commitment to making the transition to electrification.
In the near future, I see steady adoption of electric farm equipment. Product offerings will progress from electric utility vehicles to larger tractors like those offered by Solectrac, the leading electric tractor manufacturer in the U.S. Within a decade power tools, ATVs, tractors and even pick-up trucks will all be electric.
People will install solar arrays on their farms to reduce their energy costs and some operations will embrace agri-voltaics to augment their farms with a reliable income stream from energy production. It’s the solar equivalent of having a pump jack on your property providing lease income from an oil company.
For larger tractors and farm equipment, hydrogen will likely be the fuel of the future. New Holland has developed its H2 Dual Power tractor, the world’s first powered by hydrogen. Meanwhile, Kubota has announced that it expects to introduce hydrogen fuel cell tractors by 2025.
The interesting thing about hydrogen is that a farm can produce its own supply from a solar array or wind turbine. In New York State, Michael Strizki is famous for powering his house with hydrogen. Solar panels produce enough hydrogen in the summer to power the house, car and other toys, year-round.
With the energy transition to electrification, farm equipment isn’t going to look much different, but it will certainly run quieter and have no tailpipe emissions. You won’t have to pick up fuel to run your equipment. Farms will have solar arrays or simply charge their batteries from the grid. In the long run, electrification will make maintenance and repairs on farm equipment a lot less costly and time consuming.
Robert Miller is a retired systems engineer, formerly with General Dynamics Canada, who now volunteers with the Calgary Climate Hub and writes on behalf of Eco-Elders for Climate Action. He lives in Calgary.
