First seen at Agritechnica 2013, Weidemann’s eHoftrac 1160 has been in steady development and reaches production this year. We take a spin in a late-stage prototype
What’s this? A compact 4WD loader with no whiff of diesel and no racket? Could be just the job for enclosed buildings and/or nervous livestock. And all you need to fuel it is mains power and a little time. For the eHoftrac overlays batteries with smart electronics, a blend of technologies that the maker thinks will see a rise in popularity as emission limits for small diesels progressively tighten. And while the concept isn’t new — electric industrial forklifts have been around for decades — this is the first time it’s been applied to a farm loader.
The eHoftrac 1160 has two electric motors: a 6.5kW unit for drive and a separate 9kW version for the hydraulics. Both pull power from 0.4t of conventional lead-acid batteries, rated at 240Ah and providing 48V DC. Clearly this arrangement will produce less noise than the Perkins diesel and hydrostatic drive normally found in a 1160, and Weidemann claims 90% drivetrain efficiency — higher than the conventional model. Not only that, but like a steam engine an electric motor produces its max torque at zero revs, so the eHoftrac steps pretty lively off the mark. Regenerative braking is standard, putting charge back into the battery pack once drive swaps to overrun; this works so well that the loader will come to a stop just by lifting your foot from the drive pedal. Beyond this, conventional hydraulic brakes deliver more stopping power for this 2.35t, 15km/hr machine. By comparison the diesel model weighs 1.91t.
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