Futuristic Farming

The NH2 hydrogen fuel cell tractor looks like something out of a transformer movie, you expect it to change at any moment into a smooth talking robot. Beyond its futuristic appearance the NH2 tractor was built to provide an alternative to fossil fueled farm machinery. Without going into a lot of techno speak, the NH2, thanks to its two electric motors and large hydrogen tank, has enough power to easily match that of a 120 hp diesel tractor. But how realistic is a hydrogen powered tractor? It’s not every farm that will be equipped and able to produce the hydrogen required by the NH2 on site. Plus the cost of a hydrogen tractor will be relatively high. Of course, if the NH2 went into mass production the cost would come down considerably, but it would probably still remain out of the financial reach of most farmers. While it’s all well and good that companies are working on alternative energy sources for farm machinery, perhaps it would be more beneficial for now to focus on using advanced biofuels that could be more easily acquired and transported than hydrogen fuel, which requires special high pressure containers for storage and shipping; proving itself to be quite costly.