Steyr, the premium brand in the CNH Industrial tractor family, was tasked with showing the potential tractor of the future at Agritechnica 2019. The Konzept not only impressed the crowds at the German show, but also the jury of the prestigious Good Design award.
The only tractor among the 2020 finalists, in addition to the radical styling, the judges also acknowledged its forward-thinking technology, including an innovative hybrid power system.
The Konzept, which currently resides in the auditorium at the St. Valentin facility in Austria, uses a diesel electric hybrid from sister company FPT. Combining a conventional four-cylinder diesel engine, generator and individual electric wheel motors, up to 250kW of peak power is available.
Each wheel can be independently powered, and energy captured when travelling downhill can be recovered and stored in a battery under the cab. The battery can be recharged from the mains, and the pto and hydraulics are capable of being driven electrically. There are also 700V and 48V connections for electrically powered implements.
The Konzept currently resides in the auditorium at the St. Valentin facility in Austria.
The tractor can work with a drone to obtain real-time data on soil and crop conditions. The can has a head’s-up display, and not only does the door open electrically, but the steps swing out and the seat swivels to greet you.
“Within the external styling of the Konzept study created by our design team, our engineers have been able to re-examine how comfort, efficiency and sustainability can be combined in a tractor, and to show the full potential of technologies under development,” comments Peter Friis, head of commercial operations Steyr in Europe.
Administered by the Chicago athenaeum’s museum of architecture and design, the 70th edition of the annually-presented awards saw record entry numbers exceeding 900 from manufacturers and designers from 48 different countries.
