Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Versatile tractors powered by hydrogen

 Buhler Industries Inc. of Winnipeg has signed a deal with Cummins Inc. of Columbus, Indiana, to develop hydrogen-powered engines for top-of-the-line Versatile tractors.


The companies said that will reduce or eliminate greenhouse-gas emissions.


The engines will be similar to existing diesels, Cummins said.


While diesel engines continue to be the flexible power of choice for the foreseeable future in agriculture, such a collaboration enables both companies to develop low and zero carbon solutions that are ideally suited to farming,” said Adam Reid, Versatile’s vice-president of sales and marketing.


“Cummins has recently announced its plan to leverage existing platforms and expertise in spark ignited technology to build hydrogen engines. The high commonality among engine components between diesel and hydrogen leverages scale advantages for OEMs, while delivering the reliability that farmers need,” said Ann Schmelzer, Buhler’s general manager.


The companies did not provide an estimate of when the hydrogen-powered tractors might hit the market.


Earlier this year the Canadian management team at Buhler took over the company after Russian owners left soon after Canada imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs in an effort to dissuade Russia from continuing its invasion of the Ukraine.