Sonalika has unveiled an electric tractor.
Story by Team CV
Hot on the heels of the announcement that it has crossed the one-lakh annual tractor sales for the third consecutive year, the Sonalika Group has unveiled a field-ready electric tractor called the ‘Tiger Electric’. Claimed to be the first field-ready product of its kind in the country that could be booked right away, the Tiger Electric is powered by a state-of-the-art IP67 compliant 25.5 kW natural cooling compact battery to ensure one-fourth the running costs when compared to an equivalent diesel powered tractor. Coming from a company that recently announced its position as the number-one tractor exporter, the Tiger Electric highlights an ability to innovate. It also highlights the capabilities of the Sonalika Group in terms of research and development. Having earned 10 lakh customers globally and 1.25 lakh customers in the export markets, the Group has engineered the Tiger Electric such that its high- quality battery could be fully charged with a regular home charging point in 10 hours. Reducing the effort to travel frequently to petrol pumps to refuel, the Tiger Electric employs an energy-efficient Etrac motor. It is about high power density and high peak torque. Ensuring zero RPM drop for optimal performance, the motor has 100 per cent torque availability at all times. With an ability to accelerate quickly under a variety of load conditions, the e-tractor is priced at Rs.5.99 lakh ex-showroom.
Introduced as part of the group’s commitment to accelerate India’s march towards a greener tomorrow and stay in-line with Government of India’s ambitious move of introducing EVs by 2030, the Tiger Electric is made unique by its ability to provide extra torque as part of the working range of the field ready unit. Coming from a company that announced in June 2020 of having registered phenomenal overall growth (domestic plus exports) of 18.6 per cent with sale of 9,177 tractors in May 2020 as compared to 7,737 tractors in May 2019, the Tiger Electric offers the farmer an ability to perform better; to get a better yield per hectare. The e-tractor also assures him of better comfort. Sans an internal combustion engine to generate heat, noise and vibration, the Tiger Electric is about higher up-time and productivity. It is about a top speed of 25 kmph and a battery back-up of about eight hours while operating with a two-tonne trolley. The Sonalika Group is also offering a fast-charging system that could charge the battery in just four hours.
Witnessing a healthy growth of 26 per cent in tractor deliveries in May’ 2020, the Sonalika Group is quite confident of the Tiger Electric making it big in the Indian market. It is confident of it proving its use-ability and advantage in the market sooner than later. Manufactured at the Group’s vertically integrated tractor manufacturing plant at Hoshiarpur, Punjab, the Tiger Electric was designed in Europe and developed with global technological solutions to deliver seamless power, easy home charging, zero carbon footprint and noiseless farming to the Indian farmers. Set to roll out of a facility that is replete with much automation (the takt time per tractor is two minutes), the Tiger Electric uses proven aggregates. Developed in-house, it assures to be a farmer-friendly animal whose operations are no different than regular tractor. Said to have been engineered to provide a degree of customisation, and be scaled up as per the requirement, the Tiger Electric marks a field-ready tractor, according to Sonalika sources, that will elevate farm mechanisation to a new level. Especially in the face of economic changes and changes in weather patterns, which call farmers to re-align their farming practices. The use of tractors involved in applications like puddling, mulching, baler application, orchards, horticulture, etc., the e-tractor from Sonalika Group was developed with the rising demand for customised tractors and specialised implements.
