Electric Machines in Agriculture

As far back as 1873, experiments were carried out to see whether the electric trolley system applied to omnibuses could be adapted to ploughing and tilling fields. In 1913, 1,600 "e;trolley/cable ploughs were in use across German farmlands. The arrival of the gasoline tractor relegated the use of electricity to electroculture, short haul farm machinery and lawn mowers. But it is only with the commercial availability of the lithium-ion battery during the last decade, that electrically powered drones and more recently tractors and earth movers are being seen as the way ahead. In this, the sixth in his seminal electric transport history series, Kevin Desmond portrays the life and work of the innovative engineers who perfected these e-tractors and agricultural drones.