Farmer Tech: Springtime Is Here : Hydrogen Fuel Cell Tractor

By Kate Gammon , published on April 20, 2009 at 1:30 PM
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When the fuel crunch meets the farm, innovation is the answer and inventions like the New Holland NH2 tractor are cool in every way. The NH2’s emission-free hydrogen fuel cell battery generates about 106 horsepower, which is on par with traditional gas-guzzling farm vehicles. It runs on an electric motor powered by a single hydrogen tank for about 2 hours, although this should increase when the vehicle leaves the prototype phase and sees production. While the NH2 isn’t the first heavy-duty machine to turn to hydrogen (GE is developing giant haulers in hybrid editions), it is the first lined up for commercial use. Plus, it just looks slick and no combustion engine means no exhaust, which is better for people working in the path of the tractor.

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Comments
sublifer 04/20/2009 10:39 PM
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Nifty stuff. Its nice to see how modern tech is making its way into the different fields such as agriculture. (no pun intended)

Anonymous 04/21/2009 10:06 PM
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14 : watermill is just a de-humidifier.. nothing special been around for YEARS... got one in my basement i use every spring to help dry up after rain & flood season. Can create probably a gallon of water...

hustler539 04/21/2009 11:02 PM
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LOL at the donkey wagon....The Plant sensor, however, seems like a good idea for beginner gardeners.

average joe 04/21/2009 11:13 PM
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I didn't understand the Donkey Wagon at all. Why can't you just use the solar panels to charge the cell phone. It's a wagon with a solar panel. Is it lighter than other wagons or anything? It looks like it has nice tires.

ProDigit80 04/22/2009 5:08 PM
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openair: Better use a white bedsheet!

ProDigit80 04/22/2009 5:18 PM
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Electricity storage: What if the tank explodes? About 30MWatts of compressed air can cause devastating destruction!

hellwig 04/30/2009 10:38 PM
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ProDigit80 :
Electricity storage: What if the tank explodes? About 30MWatts of compressed air can cause devastating destruction!


They aren't using a tank, they're using an underground aqueduct (or some other natural structure). Since it will be a few hundred (or thousand) feet below the surface, they'd have to build up some extreme pressure to do more than blow a vent hole (maybe Iowa will soon have its own Old Faithful?). I also don't think its going to be a high-pressure system, probably only a few PSI at best.

hellwig 04/30/2009 10:39 PM
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Anonymous :
14 : watermill is just a de-humidifier.. nothing special been around for YEARS... got one in my basement i use every spring to help dry up after rain & flood season. Can create probably a gallon of water...


Agreed. I was raised in the SW desert, so when I visited the east coast the concept of de-humidifying something was completely foerign to me, but yeah, they've been around forever.

Anonymous 05/18/2009 1:01 PM
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I am currently working on making a virtuel hortibot simulator, using MS Robotic Developer Studio :) Check it out if you like

www.youtube.com/CornIsKing

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