John Deere’s plug-in tractor opens a new future to farmers

John Deere envision a future of new opportunities for farms to supply and use their own energy, to power tractors.

As part of this vision, the firm has developed an electric cable powered autonomous tractor developing up to 400 horse power.

The GridCON research project and tractor are part of the company’s continued efforts in electrification of agricultural machinery.

This is not the first electric tractor revealed by John Deere. They presented their first SESAM (Sustainable Energy Supply for Agricultural Machinery) fully electric tractor in 2016.

The GridCON tractor looks very different, as it has no cab, and no rows of batteries underneath the bonnet.

It is the first fully electric and permanently cable powered vehicle capable of fully autonomous operation.

Based on a John Deere 6210R tractor, this concept machine has a cable connection from the field border which transfers more than 300kW of power continuously.

A 100kW electric motor powers the IVT transmission, and there is an outlet for implements powered by a 200kW electric motor.

A drum fixed to the tractor carries up to 1,000 metres of cable. In the field, the cable is fed out and reeled in, guided by a robot arm. An intelligent guidance system is used to prevent the tractor running into or over the cable.

At work, the tractor fully autonomously follows preset rows at operating speeds of up to 12mph (20kph).

The vehicle can also be guided manually using a remote control, which is particularly useful when manoeuvring the tractor to start work on field borders.

A power supply of 2.5kV AC is required, and the tractor uses a 700V DC bus for electric power distribution, onboard and for implements.

The machine employs a cooling infrastructure for off-board electrical use, the efficiency of the drivetrain is in the region of 85%.

The weight of the working prototype tractor including cable drum and robot arm is about 8.5 tonnes, about the same as a conventional John Deere 6195R tractor, but with twice as much power.

Research engineers are aiming to reduce the weight further, by at least one tonne.

Besides this favourable power to weight ratio, the concept offers the twin benefits of noiseless and emission-free operation.

Compared to battery-powered tractors, this cable powered tractor delivers around 50% lower operating costs. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and managed by the German Aerospace Centre eV in

Cologne.