Energy consumption and loss mechanisms in electrified tractor powertrains: A system-level evaluation based on a field-validated diesel tractor model

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This study presents a system-level evaluation of onboard energy consumption and loss mechanisms in electrified tractor powertrains under representative agricultural workloads. A baseline diesel tractor model was developed and validated using field-measured moldboard-plowing data, reproducing the principal vehicle-level responses with NRMSE and MAPE values below 5%. Using the field-validated baseline, a series hybrid electric tractor (Ser HEV), fuel cell electric tractor (FCV), and battery electric tractor (BEV) were comparatively evaluated under a tillage duty cycle. Relative to the conventional diesel tractor, the FCV reduced onboard energy consumption by approximately 31–54%, while the BEV configurations achieved reductions of approximately 62–75%, depending on workload and battery capacity. The Ser HEV reduced energy consumption under light and medium workloads but showed an 11.1% increase under the high-load condition because of additional energy-conversion stages. Energy-distribution analysis showed that electrification substantially reduces power-source losses while increasing the relative importance of drivetrain- and wheel-to-drawbar losses. Within the adopted comparative model, increasing battery capacity for extended BEV operation increased vehicle mass and was associated with greater modeled wheel-to-drawbar loss, resulting in higher onboard energy demand for the long-range BEV than for the short-range configuration. These results demonstrate that tractor electrification should be evaluated at the system level by considering energy-conversion pathways, energy-management strategy, onboard energy capacity, and vehicle mass together.