Investigating the efficiency of hybrid architectures for agricultural tractors using real-world farming data

In 2020, the European Commission (EC) approved the European Green Deal, which is an ambitious package of measures that aim to transform Europe into a climate-neutral area. Agricultural machinery in Europe produces around 70 million tons of CO2 emissions each year. Industry and researchers are currently investigating hybrid powertrains to significantly reduce CO2 emissions. This paper aims to investigate two hybrid powertrain architectures and report the benefits to farmers of such solutions using real-world data. Real-world data were collected using a Controller Area Network (CAN-BUS) data logger on a row-crop tractor with an engine power of 158 kW. Engine and transmission operating parameters were recorded for more than two years of field use. Data were first classified into tasks and then a series of inefficiency indices were defined. The operational inefficiency of each task type was then identified. Two hybrid powertrain architectures were evaluated using load point shifting principles. These were electric power take-off (ePTO) and plug-in P4 architecture. The hybrid architecture with the greatest benefits was the plug-in P4 powertrain, which achieved cost and CO2 savings of 7.2 % and 9.5 %, respectively. In the future, as the proportion of electricity from renewable sources increases, greater benefits could be achieved. On the other hand, the ePTO architecture permits to achieve a lower fuel saving, below than 2 %, but with a simpler technology.