Balqon Corporation Completes Cold Weather Testing on Li-Ion Battery Electric Tractor
29 January 2010
Balqon Corporation, an emerging developer and manufacturer of heavy-duty electric vehicles for Class 7 and Class 8 applications, has successfully completed cold weather testing on its lithium-ion battery powered electric tractor, the Nautilus XE20. (Earlier post.)
Our demonstration of the performance of the Nautilus XE20 in actual warehouse applications at temperatures below 10 °F [-12 °C] under loads exceeding 25 tons validates our belief that the durability, range and performance of our heavy-duty electric vehicles would not be diminished due to the effects of cold weather.
We believe that the four weeks of successful testing validates the Nautilus XE20 as a viable alternative to diesel fuel powered vehicles in cold weather conditions. Based upon the fuel cost data we recorded, we also believe that Balqon’s heavy-duty electric vehicles will provide significant fuel cost savings as compared to diesel fuel powered heavy-duty vehicles that must remain idle all day in cold weather conditions to prevent fuel line freeze-up.
— Balwinder Samra, Balqon President and CEO
The Nautilus XE20, released earlier this month, is designed, integrated, and built in cooperation with Autocar Truck and their Xspotter yard tractor team. The Nautilus XE20 is designed for off-highway container or semi-trailer “spotting” applications, and is equipped with Balqon’s proprietary heavy-duty drive system and lithium-ion battery management system.
The Nautilus XE20 is designed to travel at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour and is capable of towing loads of up to 40 tons. Field demonstrations conducted at both a large beverage distribution warehouse and an industrial manufacturing facility showed lower energy consumption over competitive diesel powered vehicles operated in a similar environment.
The company should apply this technology to farm tractors, so agricultural crops could be grown without using petroleum based fuels.
Posted by: Aureon Kwolek | 29 January 2010 at 10:48 AM
AK:
Good potential there. Farm tractors with 4 (20 to 60 Kw) in-wheel e-motors and 1++ tonnes of modular batteries could replace many current diesel units.
A small on-board (Honda like) genset could be useful to power an e-tractor to the local farm charging station when the battery pack runs out. Overnight slower charges would be the norm.
Associated farm instruments would have to be progressively electrified. That would not be much of a challenge.
Posted by: HarveyD | 29 January 2010 at 01:56 PM
Sounds like an oversized electric fork lift. How much would the batteries for such a thing cost?
I doubt you could recharge a ton of batteries in 8 hours from a 110v outlet. I wonder if you could even do it from a 220v outlet.
I like the aesthetics of this concept, though I suspect farmers are pretty price-conscious buyers.
Posted by: HealthyBreeze | 29 January 2010 at 03:12 PM
HB:
Of course, to be competitive, batteries performance would have to go up 5+ folds and price come down at least 5 to 10 times current price. That may not happen much before 2020.
At under $100/Kwh and over 1Kwh/Kg, a farm tractor could be equipped with enough batteries (200+ Kwh) at an acceptable price and weight.
Charging could to be done with 40+ Amps, 3 phase, 380 V or 440 V.
Alternatively, 3 each, 220 VAC 40 Amps standard chargers could do a decent job, i.e. up to 26.4 KWh or about 211 KWh in 8 hours, assuming that the battery pack could be restructured into 3 modules during charging.
Most farms already have 220 VAC @ 400+ Amps.
Posted by: HarveyD | 29 January 2010 at 03:43 PM
How about licensing the technology to Sears, or whoever builds their lawn tractors, so we can get rid of some of the smog produced by their ICEs. This would be even more effective overall than replacing the diesel engines in large tractors.
Posted by: Lad | 29 January 2010 at 11:57 PM
The technology for the GE ElecTrak (or however it's spelled), sold in the 70's, is in the public domain now.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 02 February 2010 at 08:50 PM
The technology for the GE ElecTrak (or however it's spelled), sold in the 70's, is in the public domain now.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 02 February 2010 at 08:50 PM