Last year, electric vehicle company HummingbirdEV debuted its first all-electric tractors at the World Ag Expo. Last week, the company introduced an all-electric Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) charging tender truck. Serving as a complementary unit, the zero-emission trucks will provide in-the-field charging to the electric tractors.
When the Hummingbird electric tractors were being field tested over the course of last year, they were charged via a stand-alone charger, which required the tractors to return the charging station each time. The new V2V charging trucks enable the tractors to be recharged directly in the field, eliminating frequent trips back to the charging station, a big advantage especially during harvest.
The V2V charging trucks are able to charge two electric tractors simultaneously in 30 minutes. It has a battery pack capacity of 88 kWh and charging power up to 40 KW. The maximum charging time for a truck is two hours and has a range of about 90 miles (145 km) per charge. The maximum speed reached is 60 mph (96.5 kph) and when fitted with a flatbed, can be used as a standard utility truck, with a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,000 lbs.
Currently, the equipment is being tested at HummingbirdEV’s farming partners at Moonlight Companies, Fresno State AG Farm and Ranch Management. At this moment in time, the price and availability of either the tractor or the truck has not yet been announced. To keep up with the latest updates or to learn more HummingbirdEV, please visit www.hummingbirdev.com