John Deere partners with Spudnik to replace mechanical driveline with electric motors
John Deere is offering an Electric Variable Transmission (EVT) on its larger 8 and 9 series model tractors that replaces a standard mechanical variable transmission with electric motors. Now, they’re partnering with Spudnik to put the system to work on potato and root crop farms.
Naturally, Deere cites a number of advantages to using its tech — including more efficient operation, infinite speed control, reduced maintenance requirements, and superior torque delivery “to the wheels.” The ag equipment experts at Agriland, however, cite yet another benefit to the EVT that’s often overlooked: off-boarding.
“(One of) the virtues of this (EVT) approach is getting power to the wheels … but another notable benefit of this arrangement is that an electrical power source is readily available to drive implements, which is now generally referred to as off-boarding,” writes Justin Roberts. “The various driveshafts and belts on a trailed machine, such as a baler, can be replaced with wires and motors which are lighter and do not require the heavy engineering necessitated by tensioned pullies and the torque reaction of shafts.”
John Deere EVT cutaway
Deere notes that agricultural implements with powered axles are already successfully used in Europe, where they help to “push” the tractor from behind while working in the field. In addition to improving traction and preventing tractors from getting stuck in inclement weather, the EVT-powered axles theoretically enable a smaller tractor to effectively pull a larger implement.
“This EVT is the industry’s only transmission that enables electric power generation (up to 100kW),” says Ryan Jardon, marketing manager for John Deere. “By using this electricity farmers could power implement fan drives, take the place of implement hydraulic pumps, or assist the tractor by powering the implement’s axles. This is similar, to proven-technology John Deere currently uses, on construction equipment.”
By now, though, you’re probably wondering what any of this has to do with potato farming. It turns out that electrification, whether we’re talking about fully electric drive or a diesel/EVT hybrid, solves a huge problem in root crop harvesting.
Using air to separate roots and tubers from dirt clods and stones is a common practice on mechanical harvesters, but maintaining a consistent airflow with a diesel engine that’s under differing loads throughout its duty cycle, constantly varying engine speeds, and — as a consequence — fan revolutions is a constant problem. Working with Deere, Spudnik has solved this problem by driving its fans with an electric motor that’s powered with off-boarded electricity from the EVT, rather than a mechanical connection to the tractor’s transmission (how it’s been done for the better part of a century).
Electrifying the fan motor means it can run at a constant speed, regardless of how fast, or how slow the tractor is running.
The configuration has already been tested on one of Spudnik’s 6621 2 Row AirSep potato separators with a large grower out in Washburn, Maine with great success, according to Spudnik. No word yet on when they’ll get serious and roll out to Idaho.
Electrek’s Take
John Deere knows that its core buyers are wary of new technology — and even talking about a fully electric tractor is one of those things that could sour a longtime customer relationship in some parts of the country. Deere is doing a smart thing here by developing the EVT, electrifying their ag equipment’s drive units and offering several of the benefits of full electric operation without taking away all the rattling vroom-vroom diesel noises that their current customers love.
Think of the EVT, then, as a PHEV for farmers. Once they understand that they’re already driving an electric tractor and pulling electric implements with electrically driven axles, the only question will be how those motors get the electrons they need to do the work. Will it be from a diesel generator/alternator, as in the EVT, or a battery?
Sooner than later, the sheer economics of battery power will make switching a no-brainer. Until then, clever tech like the EVT is laying the foundations by playing up the benefits of EVs without using any politically charged terms. And— hey, whatever works.
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In a joint statement, French and German economists have called on governments to adopt “a common approach” to decarbonize European trucking fleets – and they’re calling for a focus on fully electric trucks, not hydrogen.
France and Germany are the two largest economies in the EU, and they share similar challenges when it comes to freight decarbonization. The two countries also share a border, and the traffic between the two nations generates major cross-border flows that create common externalities between the two countries.
At the same time, the EU’s transport sector has struggled to reduce emissions at the same rate as other industries – and road freight in particular is a major contributor to harmful carbon emissions issue due to that industry’s heavy reliance on diesel-powered trucks.
And for once, it seems like rail isn’t a viable option:
While rail remains competitive mainly for heavy, homogeneous goods over long distances. Most freight in Europe is indeed transported over distances of less than 200 km and involves consignment weights of up to 30 tonnes (GCEE, 2024) In most such cases, transportation by rail instead of truck is not possible or not competitive. Moreover, taking into account the goods currently transported in intermodal transport units over distances of more than 300 km, the modal shift potential from road to rail would be only 6% in Germany and less than 2% in France.
That leaves trucks – and, while numerous government incentives currently exist to promote the parallel development of both hydrogen and battery electric vehicle infrastructures, the study is clear in picking a winner.
“Policies should focus on battery-electric trucks (BET) as these represent the most mature and market-ready technology for road freight transport,” reads the the FGCEE statement. “Hence, to ramp-up usage of BET public funding should be used to accelerate the roll-out of fast-charging networks along major corridors and in private depots.”
The appeal was signed by the co-chair of the advisory body on the German side is the chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts, Monika Schnitzer. Camille Landais co-chairs the French side. On the German side, the appeal was signed by four of the five experts; Nuremberg-based energy economist Veronika Grimm (who also sits on the National Hydrogen Council, which is committed to promoting H2 trucks and filling stations) did not sign.
You can read an English version of the CAE FGCEE joint statement here.
Electrek’s Take
MAN Trucks’ CEO famously said that it was “impossible” for hydrogen to compete with BEVs, and even committed to building 200 hydrogen-powered semi truck to prove out that hypothesis.
He’s not alone. MAN’s board member for research and development, Frederik Zohm, said that the company is the one saying hydrogen still has years to go. “(MAN) continues to research fuel cell technology based on battery electrics,” he said, in a statement quoted by Hydrogen Insight, before another board member added that, “we (MAN) expect that, in the future, we will be able to best serve the vast majority of our customers’ transport applications with battery-electric trucks.”
With companies like Volvo and Renault and now Mercedes racking up millions of miles on their respective battery electric semi truck fleets, it’s no longer even close. EV is the way.
SOURCE | IMAGES: CAE FGCEE; via Electrive.
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GE Vernova has produced over half the turbines needed for SunZia Wind, which will be the largest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere when it comes online in 2026.
GE Vernova has manufactured enough turbines at its Pensacola, Florida, factory to supply over 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of the turbines needed for the $5 billion, 2.4 GW SunZia Wind, a project milestone. The wind farm will be sited in Lincoln, Torrance, and San Miguel counties in New Mexico.
At a ribbon-cutting event for Pensacola’s new customer experience center, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik noted that since 2023, the company has invested around $70 million in the Pensacola factory.
The Pensacola investments are part of the announcement GE Vernova made in January that it will invest nearly $600 million in its US factories and facilities over the next two years to help meet the surging electricity demands globally. GE Vernova says it’s expecting its investments to create more than 1,500 new US jobs.
Vic Abate, CEO of GE Vernova Wind, said, “Our dedicated employees in Pensacola are working to address increasing energy demands for the US. The workhorse turbines manufactured at this world-class factory are engineered for reliability and scalability, ensuring our customers can meet growing energy demand.”
SunZia Wind and Transmission will create US history’s largest clean energy infrastructure project.
Read more: The largest clean energy project in US history closes $11B, starts full construction
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