Pioneering Electric Fuel Trial in Finnish Tractor

On Tuesday, Nokia will conduct a test drive with a tractor equipped with a diesel engine, which will be refueled with electric fuel. This is a first-time test of electric fuel made from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide for use in vehicles.

Electric fuels are made from carbon dioxide and water with the help of electrical energy, with hydrogen being an important intermediate product. Together with companies, VTT has developed the production of electric fuel for commercial applications and industrial scale. The project received EUR 3.3 million in funding from Business Finland, and in addition, the companies’ parallel research and product development investments increase the funding to more than EUR six million.

Responsible leader of the project, research professor at VTT Juha Lehtonen says in the announcement that the fuel can be used to replace fossil diesel fuel in areas that are difficult to electrify, such as heavy road traffic and shipping. In addition, it can be used in work machines. Next, VTT aims to get information about the usability of the fuel through a field test.

The tractor equipped with a diesel engine is refueled with electric fuel during the test drive at Agco Power’s factory in Nokia. During the test drive, which lasts several hours, various emissions are measured, including fuel consumption and amount of emissions in exhaust gases. Agco Power’s director of product development Kari Aaltonen provides details on this subject in his bulletin about VTT’s project.