Simulation of energy efficiency and performance of electrified powertrains in agricultural tractors

The objective of this research is to evaluate the energy efficiency and powertrain losses of electrified powertrains in agricultural tractors. Different types of electrified powertrains were modeled in the Autonomie simulation software. Tractor operating data was recorded during different field work operations at a research farm. The recorded data was used as reference for two tillage cycles. The simulations were carried out with two tractor sizes and two workload options. The simulation results were analyzed to determine energy consumption and powertrain losses. The results indicate that parallel hybrid powertrain provide rather modest energy savings in relation to the conventional powertrain and is sensitive to operating cycle conditions. Fuel cell hybrid powertrain shows potential to reduce energy consumption up to 30% and full electric powertrain more than 60%. However, the size of the electrical energy storage in agricultural tractors is limited because of the available space.