Comment – have a look down the road.

I have often said that farmers CPD is done in the pub and over the hedge, and certainly in the upland arable paradise yours truly calls home, the moment one mower is going, we are all at it!

So let’s transfer this sentiment to the agrimachinery supply chain, specifically prime movers.  Avid readers will not be surprised to hear me banging on about future fuels (again). And we know that global engine manufacturers are broadly splitting into a couple of distinct camps, ie natural gas/methane and hydrogen. Also the mood music seems to be that electric is a non starter in ag, for the oft repeated range anxiety and machine weight considerations. All ok so far?

At this point one glances over the metaphorical hedge at the road transport industry (mega miles, range and weight anxiety abounds) and Scania has launched a charging station venture called Erinion which aims to roll out 40,000 (yes forty thousand!) new charge points by 2030.  Scania said the new company will initially launch in Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Germany. They reckon upwards of 230000 electric trucks could be on the roads by then. For context the Road Haulage Association says there are approx 487,000 HGV’s in the UK currently.

I’m not sure that I can draw a firm conclusion from this other than to say that the VHS/Betamax battle for power plants in farming may not be as binary as we think. We have already talked about the Seederal electric tractor being developed.

Meanwhile I’m still glued to the weather forecast, as  there’s 8 acres of almost hay waiting for some sunshine, I did have a go last night and it was just too green, although the knotters worked on the family heirloom New Holland 278 baler, and I managed to bleed the clutch on the legacy diesel prime mover Marshall 702, so fingers crossed.

Have a great week.

Andy

PS See https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/new-scania-venture-erinion-targets-40-000-charge-points-by-2030 for the full story