Success Story

World’s First Carbon-Free, Ammonia-Powered Tractor

Decarbonizing the transportation sector remains challenging in the global journey to Net Zero. However, ammonia (NH3) is quickly powering ahead due to its high energy density, existing infrastructure, and carbon-free composition.

The agriculture industry has been using ammonia for over a century as an efficient source of nitrogen fertilizer. But, what if ammonia could also power the machines that spread the fertilizer?

The industry’s familiarity with the chemical compound made it the perfect fit for Amogy to demonstrate ammonia’s potential as an alternative fuel with our pioneering technology.

Demo date:

May 2022

Power scale:

100 kW

Ammonia-to-electrical power conversion:

40%

Location:

Stony Brook, NY

A carbon-free ammonia-to-power solution

It began with the purchase of a John Deere M61 tractor, selected for its power rating, which was compatible with our technology’s scale at the time.
The Amogy team removed the existing diesel engine and retrofitted the tractor with our ammonia-to-power solution. The solution onboard the tractor consisted of a standard liquid storage tank and ammonia cracking technology. The liquid ammonia was fed into our reformer, which converts ammonia into hydrogen to power the fuel cell. In the fuel cell, the hydrogen is converted into electricity, which powers the tractor.
Ammonia power tractor

Driving success

In the initial demonstration at Stony Brook University, the tractor was operated for roughly one hour with ammonia. 

Shortly after, the tractor was demonstrated at Austic Farms in Ithaca, New York, where it performed regular, everyday farming tasks for several hours, maintaining the functionality and duration requirements that operators rely on to support farming operations. Also, the ammonia tank was filled with ammonia available on the farm, showing the feasibility of the existing ammonia infrastructure to aid in decarbonizing the greater farming industry.

The results

Efficient

Efficiently completed standard farming workloads using grain vacuum, packer, and mower under ammonia power.

Powerful

The ammonia tractor had 130 horsepower compared to 120 horsepower with the diesel engine.

Carbon free

First ever ammonia-powered, zero-carbon tractor.

Power Ahead with Amogy’s ammonia-to-power solutions. Learn more about our technology here.

Interested in learning more? Let's talk.