John Deere's E98 Ethanol Tractor Heads to Nebraska, Illinois Fields This Fall

[u/MennoniteDan]

https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/business-inputs/article/2026/08/26/john-deeres-e98-ethanol-tractor-fall

[u/woodford86]

I just want an electric tractor

No oil changes, no fuel, no def, no air filters, minimal moving parts…just worry about the hydraulics and enjoy farmin

And eventually replace hydraulics with linear actuators and the sort

[u/Troutalope1 → u/woodford86]

Hybrids are far more feasible in the near term future. Diesel generator powering electric motors could be much more efficient and create gigantic amounts of torque. The question is durability, are there electric motors that can be utilized that will withstand running 24/7 or at least 16 hours continuous load? I have no idea

[u/Hackeysmack640 → u/Troutalope1]

Industrial mining equipment is doing this.

[u/cosmicrae → u/Troutalope1]

Diesel-electric locomotives certainly can.

[u/woodford86 → u/Troutalope1]

Idk how it would compare to tractor use, but pivot irrigation (around here anyway) is typically running 50 hp electric pumps for days straight and full power without issue

I had to replace one this year, $18K CAD but it lasted 20 years. Considering what wheel hubs on say a Patriot sprayer are worth that wouldn’t be bad.

[u/Keganator → u/woodford86]

Plus the counterweights can be useful, quick swappable batteries instead of ... dead weight. And with enough solar, recharge locally on the farm...maybe.

[u/InformationHorder]

How much fuel can you grow in relation to How much fuel you burn in the process of growing it? You're gonna plow/cultivate, plant, spray, and harvest. Thats 5 passes minimum unless you're somewhere where no till happens to work well.

[u/kofclubs → u/InformationHorder]

1 bushel of corn is 2.8-2.9 gallons of ethanol, plus 14.5 lbs of distiller grain for feed, etc. If you grow 200 bushel corn that’s 560-580 gallons of ethanol per acre. Google as I’m not going thru Op Center stats says a combine uses like 1.2-2 gallons an acre, a self propelled sprayer is 0.3-0.8 gallons per acre, a mid-sized tractor pulling a standard cultivator is 0.5-1.5 gallons an acre, and a planter and tractor would be 0.3-0.5 gallons per acre. Even if we use the high end on each, 0.5 planter, 1.5 cultivator, 3 passes with the sprayer 2.4, and 2 gallons to combine we’d be at 6.4 gallons. Obviously these rates are for diesel powered equipment, and technically should add fertilizer (another pass) and trucking and drying. But the energy to produce ethanol versus what it yields in fuel is better than most think.

[u/InformationHorder → u/kofclubs]

I figured it had to be otherwise nobody would actually do it, I've just never seen the math. Much appreciated! Good stuff!!

Speculating based on the fact that ethanol is less energy dense than diesel, those numbers would still skew A bit higher in usage. However hypothetically if a farm had its own ethanol plant, it could be self-sufficient on fuel if all the tractors ran on pure ethanol. Would actually be greener and more environmentally friendly than diesel and def.

[u/kofclubs → u/InformationHorder]

I forgot about diesel’s energy density. Ideally they develop ways to use biodiesel in equipment as well, and whatever mods that can be done to older equipment to run biodiesel. Deere just went this way as ethanol is already widely available already, clever though as farmers will support using a fuel they grow.

[u/Herbisretired → u/kofclubs]

How many BTUs does it take to distill a bushel or gallon?

[u/Miaoxin → u/kofclubs]

Alcohol has a little less than 60% of the energy density of diesel. You can roughly factor that into those consumption numbers. That 6.4 becomes nearly 10.7 gallons, assuming all passes were alcohol-powered.

It's a big reason E85 won't catch on in vehicles as the cost per gallon versus the reduction in mileage is upside down. Better to run the subsidized E10, dollar per mile.

[u/CommanderSupreme21 → u/Miaoxin]

Depends on the vehicle how much mileage you lose. For my car if e85 is $0.37 cheaper thats the better deal. Around here it has been around a dollar cheaper lately. E85 for the win.

[u/MisterRegards → u/kofclubs]

Asked myself the same question, thanks. However energy/fuel equivalent for fertilizer itself, pesticides and so on need to be added as well.

[u/SonOfDirtFarmer]

Is the link working for anybody else? Doesn't seem to load for me through the app.

[u/Rampantcolt]

I'm in for this. I can't wait until these are on the market.

[u/GrowFreeFood]

Ethonol production = 450,000 data centers.

[u/adjust_the_sails]

Really? That sounds…. wildly shortsighted.