Zoomi Life

Touting it as the world’s first fuel cell tractor, New Holland has introduced the NH2 fuel cell tractor, debuting it in Turin, Italy. The tractor is based on the chassis of the T6000 and puts out an impressive 105hp.

I love tractors. I’m the kind of guy who gets excited when his seed order comes with a free John Deere t-shirt (true story). So I was pretty stoked to see this story break and had to write something about it.

All of that being said, this tractor has some serious hindrances to being accepted, as-is, on the market. New Holland appears aware of this and says that the current version is only a working prototype and test models won’t be out until 2011 with a possible 2013 date for street (er…field?) sales.

On the whole, though, this is awesome. The tractor uses a basic fuel cell (hydrogen and oxygen in, water and electricity out) like the Honda FCX Clarity or the upcoming Toyota. It has two motors, both at 105hp. One to run the drive wheels and the other for the PTO and accessories. This means separate movement/working and no loss of horsepower for doing both. There is no gearbox for either, since the electric motors only need to be throttled to control their speed. The tractor is four-wheel-drive.

Currently, the on-board hydrogen tank for the NH2 contains only enough hydrogen for 1.5-2 hours of operation. That’s a big downer. A big upper, though, is the totally quiet operation of the tractor, the lack of vibration, and the pure water that drips out of the little “exhaust” pipe under the cab—the tractor’s only byproduct.

Farms are uniquely suited to utilizing electric machinery and, in my opinion, hydrogen is one of the best ways to store electricity efficiently. This uniqueness to farms comes from their already (and long-standing) use of alternative energy sources for power. Most farms are equipped with wind, solar, or both for electricity generation. So literally, no harmful emissions at all for the use of hydrogen-electric machinery.

The estimated cost for this awesome unit is pretty high, but New Holland isn’t releasing any real numbers yet. Given that no fuel is needed or used, though, this could make a big difference for a farm’s long-term budget. The next four or five years will tell whether this becomes viable and cost-effective as New Holland perfects the NH2.

As for this being the first fuel cell tractor, that distinction probably goes to the 1959 Allis-Chalmers tractor, which had 1,008 stacked cells producing 15kW of power. That tractor is in the Smithsonian. Some of you may recall the review I did not long ago of some people who’ve converted Allis-Chalmers Gs into all-electrics.

Source: 1, 2