The hydrogen engine prototype presented by Agco Power at Agritechnica 2023
Last April the Agco group announced the launch of a 70 million euro investment plan aimed at expanding the production possibilities of the Linnavuori plant in Finland, while also increasing its research capabilities in the energy sector sustainable. With regards to the latter, the plan essentially looks at non-fossil fuels and electric motors.
Production capacities will instead be increased through the creation of a new warehouse for the processing of cylinder heads and continuously variable transmission components, a new painting department and facilities for testing remanufactured engines.
Also training areas
The total area of the new buildings will be 11 thousand square meters and the completion of the works is expected between 2024 and 2025. Areas dedicated to the training of technicians responsible for after-sales assistance and a laboratory for clean energy are also planned, structure that will support the development and testing of innovative and sustainable solutions for batteries and engines for agricultural machinery. Among the latter also new generation thermal engines and electric units, with the former fueled by hydrogen or methanol so as to be able to move even high-power agricultural machines with low emissions. Agco is in fact convinced that in the coming years the agricultural sector will also see the same boom in hybrid powertrains currently existing in the automotive sector and this is due to the current impossibility of creating high-power vehicles driven by electric motors powered by batteries.
Electric not only for low power
The limited energy storage capacity offered even by the latest generation accumulators currently limits the use of full electric propulsion in the agricultural field to low-power machines. In its intentions and in the future, the Agco Power laboratory aims to work to change this paradigm as demonstrated by one of its first returns, the Fendt “e100 V Vario” electric tractor. The laboratory will then also work to limit emissions induced by the plant’s production activities, aiming to reduce direct and indirect emissions by 55 percent by 2033, which will then be further reduced to 90 percent by 2050.
Also envisaged is the involvement of suppliers to reduce their emissions, support for farmers to push them towards a transition oriented towards sustainable solutions and collaboration with sector associations on renewable and low-carbon fuels in agricultural machinery.
Title: Agco Power investments, zero emissions objective
Translation with Google
