SMALL POWER ELECTRIC TRACTOR PERFORMANCE DURING PLOUGHING WORKS

Taking into consideration the current trend to mitigate the agriculture’s negative impact on the environment, this implies using new technologies and equipment for performing agricultural works. Currently, the most used equipment in agriculture is the agricultural tractor with heat engine. One alternative is represented by electric motors, usually powered by batteries. The main advantage for the environment is that zero emissions are released into the atmosphere during agricultural works. Another advantage consists of the nominal torque which could be sustained from almost zero revolutions of the electric motors resulting in lower loads on the batteries with a proper mechanical transmission. Ploughing represents the agricultural work which exploits most of the performances of an agricultural tractor, in terms of fuel consumption and engine wear. Within this paper are presented the tests performed on an electric tractor during ploughing works, at different depths and with different working speeds, in order to assess its autonomy and efficiency with a single battery charge. The electrical parameters of the tractor were recorded during tests, as well as the tractor draft force. The results were used to establish the optimal working regime of the electric tractor during ploughing works.