Assessment of agricultural electric vehicles based on photovoltaics in China

Solar-powered agricultural vehicles facilitate the reduction in the use of fossil fuel, decreasing the emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases. This paper assessed the agricultural electric vehicle (AEV) based on photovoltaics in China, taking into consideration three aspects, i.e., power supply mode for AEV, power of AEV, and economy analysis. The power supply mode, whether on-board photovoltaic (PV) system or off-board PV system, is subjected to the size and the power of the designed AEV, but the AEV's power depends on the area of PV panels which affects the initial investment cost of the PV system and the AEV. Three analysis indicators including payback period, net present value, and benefit-cost ratio were taken into consideration when comparing the projects of 10 kW and 30 kW AEVs based on PV system and the respective conventional tractors. Results show that the off-board PV system is more applicable to the AEV, the PV-based AEV with low power is a wise, economical investment, and this type of system is particularly appropriate for rural and remote areas in China, although the initial investment cost is huge for the most of the Chinese farmers.