With 1.426 billion citizens as of April of this year, India officially surpassed China to become the world’s most populous nation. Despite accounting for only 15% of India’s GDP due to the expansion of other industries, nearly 75% of the country’s population employed in the agriculture sector. Even though they comprise the majority of the population, 20% of Indian farmers live below the poverty line in 2019. India has the world’s largest tractor market due to the large number of agricultural workers living within its borders.

The majority of the machinery produced by the domestic tractor industry runs on fossil fuels, and according to estimates from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), India’s diesel-powered tractors use nearly 8% of the nation’s fuel annually—nearly as much as all of the country’s buses. However, India’s tractor industry has importing and producing electric tractors lately; in 2020, Sonalika will produce the nation’s first electric tractor. Some of the poorest citizens of India would gain a number of advantages from the widespread adoption of electric tractors.

Advantages of Health Over Diesel

The ability of electric tractors to lessen air pollution is their main advantage over diesel-powered tractors for Indian farmers. Even though cities frequently mentioned when discussing India’s poor air quality, air pollution levels in many of the country’s rural areas are almost exactly the same as those in urban areas. According to the 2022 State of Global Air Report, air pollution claimed the lives of 1.6 million people in India in 2019. Furthermore, studies reveal that premature deaths in rural areas are three times more common than those in urban areas simply as a result of air pollution. 

Given that electric tractors produce no emissions, increasing their use in India would aid in reversing this imbalance. However, diesel-powered tractors in India estimated by the ICCT to released “about 25 kilotonnes of particulate matter and almost 300 kilotonnes of nitrogen oxides as of 2020.” Non-electric tractors, on the other hand, contribute to air pollution. Indians living in rural areas would breathe cleaner, safer air thanks to electric tractors, which would also reduce pollution levels and prevent deaths.

The fact that electric tractors are much quieter than non-electric tractors is another advantage for your health. Numerous fossil fuel-powered tractors have loud engines that can reach 100 dB, which can cause hearing damage after 15 minutes of exposure. Conversely, because electric tractors run without an engine, they can operate at much lower noise levels, which is much safer for farmers’ ears. Electric tractors would safeguard the hearing of Indian farmers, shield them from the need for future hearing aids, and keep them from having to bear the risks associated with working with hearing loss due to their inability to pay for any medical equipment. 

Monetary Considerations

The adoption of electric farm equipment may hampered by the fact that, while electric tractors are currently twice as expensive in India as diesel-powered equipment, the ICCT estimates that the 10-year cost of owning and operating an electric tractor is nearly equal to that of a conventional tractor. This is because diesel-powered tractors are less than 30% efficient in doing the same task as electric tractors, which are 90% efficient in converting thermal energy to mechanical energy. Therefore, farmers who own electric tractors can power and operate their machinery more efficiently, resulting in lower long-term energy costs.

Because electric tractors don’t need an engine to operate, fewer parts could break and need to replaced or repaired, which means they require less maintenance overall. Farmers would able to save money and feel more secure knowing that their electric equipment will last longer thanks to this feature. 

In terms of the financial drawbacks of non-electric tractors, geopolitical events such as the ongoing war in Ukraine have an impact on the price of diesel fuel, which is prone to frequent fluctuations. Farmers have more financial security when using electric tractors because they are not subject to the same volatility in the cost of charging machinery. 

Looking Forward

The good news is that India’s government currently has several policies in place for electric on-road vehicles that it could easily extend to electric tractors, even though there aren’t any upfront incentives offered to buyers of electric tractors in India. One of these initiatives is the FAME II programme, which would offer subsidies to bring the cost of electric tractors down to a level that is comparable to or lower than that of diesel machinery if it were implemented to all zero-emission equipment in India. The Indian government has already urged by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), the country’s association of producers of electric vehicles, to include funding for electric off-road machinery in the Union Budget for the 2023–2024 fiscal year.

Although the national and state governments of India took action to combat air pollution, discussions about reducing emissions frequently ignored rural areas. India’s farmers and other rural dwellers will finally able to rest and breathe easy knowing they are reaping the majority of the benefits as mahindra tractor adopted more and more in the country.