Steyr stunned Agritechnica 2019 visitors with its diesel-hybrid Konzept tractor. The Austrian tractor maker had another show stopper planned for next month’s show (sadly cancelled) in the form of a hybrid powertrain concept.
The company was not planning to bring a complete tractor to Hanover, but something like the picture and a video to show how it works. It could take longer for the details to surface now that Agritechnica 2022 is off, but we can reveal is a development from the original Konzept.
The FPT block is not directly connected to a generator as seen on the Konzept at Agritechnica 2019. It differs as well in that the electricity is used as an electric overlay on a more traditional driveline (there are no wheel motors). The technology could be used with a CVT, but Steyr would have shown the concept in Hanover with a dual clutch transmission.
Designing a transmission to take all the power is a challenge for R+D departments. What Steyr has done with this particular concept is use electricity to smooth the power delivery, not necessarily relying on engine characteristics. This means it is no longer necessary to reconfigure a transmission designed for a tractor to make it suitable for a higher performance capacity.
The Konzept, one of the Agritechnica 2019 show stoppers, utilises a diesel electric FTP hybrid to supply power to the individual wheel motors with up to 250kW of peak power available.
“The concept we have developed allows us to bypass the transmission and provide an electric power boost to the final drives and increase the overall vehicle performance or supply power to an electrified implement, for example,” says Peter Friis, head of Steyr Europe commercial operations.
It has been suggested that excess braking energy can be recovered and stored in a battery when the tractor travels downhill for use as a power boost or to switch off the diesel block and run the tractor 100% electrically. Not true comments Mr Friis, as the concept does not have a battery. “There is no pure electric mode, the technology simply supplements the driveline.”
The Austrian tractor maker stresses that the hybrid drivetrain will not enter production in itself, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see something like it or slightly different in a future Steyr tractor.
The concept is one of a number shortlisted by the DLG (German Agricultural Society) in the Agrifuture concept awards, a new Agritechnica initiative. The digital award ceremony will take place on February 15.
