Modelling & Simulation Of A Hybrid-Electric Tractor To Reduce Agricultural Carbon Emissions - CJ6

Abstract Tighter government legislations and targets to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050 [1] means every industry is under investigation. Agriculture accounts for 9% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, with a large proportion contributed by fuel usage by agricultural vehicles and subsequent CO2 emissions. Simulink software has been utilised to produce realistic models of two base tractors, one 70kW and the other 228kW. Three separate duty cycles have been simulated using the produced model; one to validate against real world data and the others produce emission results from a driving and stationary official cycle. A proposed Hybrid-Electric (HEV) model has been created for each tractor featuring a downsized engine combined with an electric motor. The same duty cycles have been simulated and prove that the HEV can output almost identical performance and power figures with greatly reduced fuel usage and consequently far lower CO2 emissions.