Electrification opportunity for agricultural applications | Bullwork Mobility

Bangalore-based Bullwork Mobility is on a mission to harness technology for the benefit of India’s agricultural sector. To that end, the company has developed two products – an electric tractor and an electric sprayer. This Q&A with Hemanth Kumar – CEO, Bullwork Mobility, helps understand the challenges in India’s agricultural sector that Bullwork has identified and their approach to product development that helps solve those challenges.

What are the fundamental issues faced by India’s farmers that you are looking to provide solutions for?

The agricultural industry faces an array of challenges. High operation costs of machinery, low mechanization, and availability of labour are some of them. Here, we explain the challenges related to tractors and sprayers – two of the most commonly used machines for agriculture.

• Tractors

Tractors come with a significant upfront cost, which can be a daunting barrier for small-scale farmers. The initial expenditure includes not only the cost of the tractor but also implements and accessories. Beyond the purchase price, tractors demand regular maintenance, fuel, and periodic replacement of parts. The vehicle demands three to four litres of diesel to operate every hour. A farmer has to invest INR 8-9 Lakhs to purchase the tractor. Every year, they must spend another INR 3-4 Lakhs for diesel to run the machine.

Moreover, the vehicle is inherently offline. There is no data on deployment, utilization, area covered, etc. Although the recent trend has been to add IoT modules to existing tractors, it has limited capabilities due to the nature of the machine.

How does electrification help?

Electric tractors have the potential to disrupt the conventional farming landscape. The most significant advantage of an electric tractor is that it is cheap to operate. Running an electric tractor can cost 3 times less than a traditional diesel tractor. Additionally, for every hour of running, they will offset up to 10 Kgs of CO2.

What this system needs to be successful is a ground-up redesign of a tractor to have an efficient electric powertrain. These vehicles need to extract every drop of juice from the battery when dealing with limited energy on board. Retrofits built on existing platforms are not the answer.

How is your solution different from other electric tractor companies?

We take a comprehensive approach to solving the problems faced by Indian farmers. We are not merely retrofitting existing machines but developing ground-up designs that cater specifically to the needs of Indian agriculture. We focus on autonomous technology, electric power, and data-driven precision farming.

What do you mean by Precision Farming?

We create electric and smart farming equipment and take it a step further with data collection and analysis. Our machines are equipped with sensors that gather valuable data on soil health, crop conditions, and more. This data is then harnessed for precision agriculture.

Farmers can access real-time insights into their crops, enabling them to make informed decisions on everything from irrigation to pest control. Our vehicles offer plant identification, yield prediction, and smart health monitoring. This level of data-driven precision empowers farmers to optimize their practices, reduce resource wastage, and increase their yields.

Specifications of Bullwork Mobility electric tractor

Our tractors come in the 35-50 HP range, making them powerful enough to handle a wide range of agricultural tasks. The operational costs are reduced to a fraction of what traditional diesel tractors demand. While traditional tractors cost around INR 400 per hour of operation, our electric tractors operate at just INR 50-70 per hour. This cost-saving is crucial for farmers, especially smallholders.

The tractor is built with innovative ADDC (Automatic Depth and Draft Control) technology, which helps the farmer to use the implements with precision and ease. The machine also features a PTO (Power Take-off) to run existing implements that attach to a tractor.

At present, our prototype is ready. We plan to soft launch the tractor by the end of this year and expect to complete the homologation process soon after. Deliveries to start mid-2024. Though our pricing will evolve with the scale, a ballpark figure for the price would be INR 12 Lakhs.

• Sprayers

What challenges do the farmers face when it comes to their spraying requirements?

Spraying in agriculture is a crucial yet often resource-intensive task. However, when people think of mechanization in the agriculture sector, they think only of deploying tractors. The biggest bottleneck for plant growth is the spraying activity. Traditional plant spraying in India is predominantly labour-intensive. Many smallholder farmers resort to manual spraying methods, which are physically demanding, time-consuming, and less precise. Moreover, finding skilled labour, especially during peak spraying seasons, is a constant struggle. It is a slow process and also affects the health of the person who is doing the spraying.

India is one of the largest consumers of pesticides in the world. However, the excessive and often indiscriminate use of pesticides is a significant issue. Many farmers lack proper training and awareness about the judicious use of these chemicals, leading to overuse, incorrect application, and subsequent crop damage.

Access to modern spraying equipment, such as mechanized sprayers, drones, and precision agriculture tools, remains limited, especially in remote and economically disadvantaged regions. The high cost of such technology is a significant barrier for small-scale farmers. The excessive use of pesticides and the mismanagement of their residues contribute to environmental degradation. Soil and water sources become contaminated, and the development of pesticide-resistant pests further compounds the problem.

The solution to this problem is a mechanised vehicle which can deliver the proper amount of pesticides, Herbicides, nutrients and fertilisers quickly and cheaply. Electric Boom sprayers are the answer, as they can complete this activity at a fraction of the cost and keep humans much safer by removing them from the immediate area of sprays.

What is Bullwork’s solution for spraying?

We have developed the world’s first fully electric high-clearance boom sprayer – Warrior. This machine offers farmers a way to significantly reduce their environmental impact while effectively caring for their crops.

The Warrior is a versatile solution with 600/900 litres of tank capacity, and it can spray 4-5 acres of land in one hour.

The lithium-ion battery ensures reliability, and the hybrid charging system (battery + generator) means one charge can cover 20-25 acres.

We are already in production mode for the sprayer and expect to start deliveries around Feb 2024. The ballpark price for the sprayer would be INR 15 lakhs.

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