Based in Brittany in the northwest of France, Seederal is a start-up company with the vision of one day commercially launching a 100% battery-powered, medium-size tractor. Having secured funding in 2022, the company developed its first prototype 160hp electric tractor and began field testing.

Seederal has raised a further €11m in funding to continue its R&D efforts, as further field trials get under way. The current prototype tractor is based on a JCB Fastrac 4000 series that has been converted to 100% electric, with the equivalent output of 160hp. To date, all electric tractor solutions have been smaller sub 100hp machines, working at lighter, less demanding tasks.

However, Seederal has set itself the challenging target within the medium power segment, ie 100hp to 200hp, and a machine capable of carrying out a full day’s work on a single charge. In total, it estimates that this particular segment accounts for more than €9bn annually and more than half the tractors sold in Europe annually.

The use of the familiar chassis is believed to be used to test the battery packs’ performance, capacity and durability. The result will be the company’s first product and is expected to be significantly different to the current JCB lookalike prototype. A large extent of the technical information remains undisclosed and will do until 2025.

While the initial cost of the tractor will be between 30% and 50% more expensive than conventional models on the market, Seederal believes that the investment will be largely profitable when taken over a seven-year period.

Seederal co-founder and CTO, Arthur Rivoal said: “To our knowledge, this is the first agricultural tractor without a gearbox. Yet, since the historic appearance of these machines, every tractor has been designed and built around this component. Therefore, this is a historic tractor.” Arthur established the company alongside Antoine Venet, and both men are engineers by trade.

The first round of funding (€1.2m) was used to establish a technical team with experience within the sector, batteries and the automotive industry, as well as being able to establish the required running gear and convert a standard Fastrac for trial purposes.

A further injection of funding was issued from the France 2030 post-Covid recovery fund (€3.7m) and €10.8m from a commercial investment fund. A technical team has been recruited to meet the set out requirements, which include the batteries’ ability to carry out a full day’s work on a single charge and then rapidly recharge from 0-100% within two hours. Funds will also go towards the development of the tractors’ production platform, which is set for launch in 2026.

“Electric tractors can reduce the carbon footprint by 15-20t per unit, per year, the equivalent of the annual emissions of 17 cars travelling 12,000km/year,” company CTO, Arthur Rivoal outlined.