MachineryLink

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (DTN) -- Kinze Manufacturing had the farm equipment world buzzing at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville this week. Its display had only one item, their new 4900 planter. But that was enough to draw crowds.

Kinze's new flagship planter uses electric motors -- not mechanical or hydraulic drives -- for its meters. For a company known for innovation, but also known for pride in its existing hydraulic meters, that was quite a switch.

Going electric was "not an easy decision," Luc Van Herle, Kinze's director of global sales & service, told me at NFMS, because Kinze's hydraulic meters are "the family jewels." But once the decision was made, "We changed just about everything we could" on the metering system, even the tubes that deliver the seed to the ground.

Greater speed was a major goal for the monumental change, and Kinze claims its 4900 planter will produce 99% accuracy in seed placement when traveling between 2 and 8 mph. Unlike hydraulic drives, there is no lag time with electric, Van Herle said.

The lack of delay helps the 4900 individualize row unit performance in ways not previously possible. That can be especially helpful when going through curves, because row units on the outside of the curve travel faster than those on the inside. With the speed of electricity, the 4900's row units now can vary seed drop for each row with "infinite variability and accuracy," Van Herle said.

Each unit requires a high torque 24V motor. To keep up with electrical demand, Kinze had to give the planter its own alternator, which is powered by a hydraulic circuit.

The idea of using electricity rather than hydraulics is more common in Europe than in North America. In part, that's true because Europeans pay much higher prices for diesel fuel, and efficiency affects their bottom line greatly. Making electricity is more fuel-efficient than turning hydraulic pumps.

Electric switches and motors also require less auxiliary equipment like hoses and towers. Without those, the 4900 has a sleeker, simpler look, Van Herle said: "Think of all the things that aren't on there -- drive shafts, gearboxes, chains. It looks like a naked planter."

Kinze had help on the electric project from hardware and software suppliers more familiar with the automotive industry. Military design elements also played a role to give the 4900 a durability to operate in harsh conditions. Three years of testing preceded the launch.

Will something so radically different sell? Van Herle admitted to some trepidation when he first asked dealers to forecast customer requests. "We expected the earlier adopters would want them. But the actual results blew us away."

By his reckoning, 90% to 95% of new orders for Kinze planters in this category will be for the electric models. Sales of planters with mechanical and hydraulic drive meters will be left in the dust.

Kinze will start accepting actual orders in May. The 4900, with its new narrow transport front-fold frame design, will come in 30" row spacing, and a choice of 12, 16, or 24 rows.

Van Herle said prices are not yet set but will be competitive with other manufacturers' planters of the same size.

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