The Lithuanian company Auga has been trying to enter the modern tractor market for some time with a vehicle powered by methane and electric motors. The new tractor is practically ready for production, but appropriate financing is needed – Lithuanians already have a plan for this.
Auga Tech, part of a larger company called Auga, is responsible for the design of the new tractor. The Auga Group is not a small company, but a very large corporation engaged in the production of organic food, which is listed on the Nasdaq Vilnius stock exchange and is the largest group of companies producing organic food in Europe. The Auga Group manages approximately 39,000 ha of agricultural land with ecological certificates and employs over 1.2 thousand. people.
What is Auga M1?
The Auga M1 is a hybrid of sorts, but it works slightly differently than your taxi driver’s Prius. In this case, the tractor’s combustion engine is powered by biomethane, which generates the necessary energy and transmits it directly to four electric motors that set the wheels in motion. The whole unit is to have approximately 400 HP, but exactly how much power the final product will have is a secret for now. The prototypes used Ford engines, but this may change.
When operating under normal conditions that do not require high power, the tractor stores the generated reserve in the batteries. Such a system does not waste energy under light load conditions, uses a relatively small but efficient motor, and is able to extract huge amounts of energy when it is really needed.
At what stage is the project currently?
When we last wrote about Auga, the project was after the first presentation of a driving prototype that resembled a Xerion crossed with a Fastrac, which someone had painted black. Then we wrote that the first three units of the tractor would undergo intensive tests. According to the assumptions, the first vehicles, after field tests, were to be produced in Lithuania already in 2023.
This did not happen, and starting the assembly, even on a small scale, is not that easy, even if the first customer is… Auga.
Currently, Auga Tech is trying to implement a technology development and commercialization project worth EUR 75 million. The company submitted an application worth EUR 60 million to the “Billion for Business” program administered by the National Promotion Institution INVEGA, aimed at developing a whole package of new technologies.
Therefore, in addition to the Auga M1 tractor powered by biomethane and electric drive, the company’s portfolio also includes other, previously undisclosed technologies, such as the Auga E1 multimodal, electrically driven agricultural platform and sustainable feed production and feeding technology. After obtaining financing, Auga Tech plans to complete development work in the first phase of the project by 2026 and produce approximately 20 Auga M1 machines, 60 Auga E1 machines and 3 systems for sustainable feed production and nutrition technology.
– Only with the help of technology can we enable farmers to achieve their sustainability and agricultural productivity goals, while giving consumers the choice of a new category of food grown with less impact on the environment. We have been working on developing such technologies for years and now they have a measurable positive impact on greenhouse gas emissions. With the support of industry partners and financiers, we will create an industry of sustainable agricultural technologies in Lithuania. They will be developed and tested in Lithuania for use around the world, says Kęstutis Juščius, director of Auga Tech.
The first technologies on a production scale will be tested and applied in the Auga group’s operations. In later stages of the project, Auga Tech plans to expand this technology to local farmers, and then to Nordic and other EU countries that support sustainable agriculture.
As for the Auga M1 tractor, three such devices are currently in operation, all from the first production batch. This is their second season where they are tested in real agricultural conditions.
Will Lithuanians manage to sell their tractors to anyone other than themselves? Hard to say. Even if production starts, it will probably be individual, for the needs of visionaries and enthusiasts of agricultural technology. Although, of course, we wish the project the best – every independent player on the market can only help in better competition and in making companies try harder.
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