When Ford announced the Ford F-150 Lightning in May of 2021, many wondered who the truck was intended for. We wondered if farmers would like it. We weren’t the only ones. Farm Journal surveyed farmers, 58% of whom said they weren’t interested.
Still, we can’t deny that electric powered technology is a hot topic. Hertz recently placed an order for 100,000 Teslas for their rental fleet (increasing Elon Musk’s net worth by a staggering $37 billion in a single day when Tesla stock skyrocketed). Amazon backed Rivian is one of the world’s most valuable automakers after their IPO in August.
There are four major factors that act as barriers to an electric vehicle (EV) purchase for the average consumer. While some of these may not be directly shared by farmers, farmers are likely to have similar concerns.
Education
For most consumers, EVs remain something of a mystery, a sleek car silently zipping past them on the highway or charging outside a shopping mall. Many hold misconceptions often fueled by the media – about the safety (or lack thereof) of the batteries in the event of a crash, about the cost and frequency of battery replacement, or about requirements for home charging.
Education would also be a key component for farmers. The increased cost of EVs, possible upgrades to on-farm utilities and projected downtime for charging are all considerations that would factor into a purchase decision.
Public Charger Infrastructure
While farm vehicles, and particularly farm equipment, will usually be used close to home, consumers want and need to be able to use their EVs for road trips, commuting, and more. To accomplish this, public chargers need to be as readily available as gas stations along their planned routes.
Tesla has made headway in Canada with supercharger stations, but these are exclusively compatible with their vehicles. Drivers of other brands of EV are left to charge at stations with varying rates of delivery, which are typically slower.
Home charging is slow as well unless a homeowner chooses to upgrade their home’s capabilities. In rural settings, power infrastructure may not be able to support charging multiple vehicles at a time, or quickly enough during key seasons, even with upgrades (paid for by the farmer, of course).
A farmer who spends 15 hours in the field won’t have 24 hours of downtime to charge the battery in his combine overnight. That’s also assuming the battery in his combine can last that long – unlikely given the sheer size and weight that battery would bring. If batteries were made to switch out as they required recharging, they would still contribute to downtime in the field.
Solar power could be one solution that can at least offset some of these considerations, but at their own (significant) added cost.
Range Anxiety
Drivers of ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles can generally count on a gas station being in relatively close proximity at all times. Drivers of EVs can’t count on public charging stations and they also can’t count on that particular charging station being unoccupied or even working. The fear of running out of electricity is valid, particularly because you can’t simply head to the closest gas station and pick up a can of fuel to get started again. When your EV dies, it will have to be towed, and some models must be towed on flatbed trucks – at a premium cost.
Many farmers will be significant distances away from the nearest public charger, relying on their home charging stations for their farm vehicles. Farm equipment stays on-farm, of course, but will need to be able to run for many consecutive hours. If a tractor dies in the middle of the field and is not equipped with replaceable batteries, it will have to be towed, possibly resulting in significant damage to crops.
Batteries also tend to perform suboptimally in extreme weather – particularly in the cold but also in extreme heat. Even with the most rigorous forward planning, a cold snap can reduce range by up to 20%.
Increased Cost
At this point in time, EVs are more expensive than ICE vehicles. Even with savings in fuel and maintenance over time, the initial capital cost is high. For farmers, this may be the most significant barrier, particularly for those who replace their equipment regularly. They may not even own the equipment for long enough to recognize those long term savings.
Farmers will also face additional costs around upgrading on-farm utilities, purchasing backup batteries, or installing solar power systems.
All of this is not to say that farmers aren’t willing to embrace electric vehicle technology. It’s clear there is a desire to find ways to make it a viable option on-farm. If there weren’t, companies like John Deer and Kubota wouldn’t be prototyping electric equipment for farm use.
However, like other forms of agriculture technology, it’s important for brands to consider what problems they are trying to address, and at what cost and benefit to the farmer.
Stock market buzz and Elon’s net worth aside, the environmental impact of fossil fuel use is top of mind, EVs still need to be considered within the context of a farmer’s workflow and operational practices. Few pieces of farm equipment are used year-round but instead are intensely deployed over a short period of time. Allowing an EV battery to fully die is a Very Bad Thing, so will farmers also need to factor in the cost of maintaining a minimal charge on their equipment in the off-season? Will they have to find space to store backup batteries or install more than one charging station?
Ford coming to market first with a truck that is already a popular choice for farmers is likely going to help propel interest in the agricultural use of EVs forward, especially if farmers choose the Ford F-150 Lightning for their daily vehicle. A positive experience will open the door for farmers to visualize the possibilities for increased implementation of electric-powered equipment.
Do you think farmers will embrace electric vehicles?
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