Autonomous electric tractors headed to Australia with pitch to farmers

A Dutch company that makes fully electric autonomous tractors is setting its sights on the Australian market, with plans to offer its emissions-free farm machinery Down Under as early as the middle of 2026.

EOX Tractors director and owner Hilbrand Kuiken told The Land this week that he will come to Australia later this month, to pitch the technology to local farmers ahead of a pilot project next year.

The company’s commercial director, Carl Schwarz, will attend the 2025 National Renewables in Agriculture Conference, which is this year being held in the central Victorian city of Bendigo, as part of a new session announced just last week.

Conference founder and organiser Karin Stark says Kuiken, who believes all tractors will be emissions free 20 years from now, is also keen to hear from farmers attending the conference about what’s needed to make electric tractors work Australian farms.

EOX Tractors, which is headquartered in the Dutch eastern City of Arnhem, has reinvigorated the tractor design by optimising each component with electrification in mind.

The EOX 175-200 horsepower tractors include four 30kW hub driven motors, one hydraulic motor and two power-take-off motors which are all powered by a central 150kWh battery. Its modular design also allows for the attachment of an additional battery pack for extended range.

Unlike conventional tractors, independent steering allows the tractor to crab steer and also turn upon its own axis, which both lend themselves to a high degree of manoeuvrability.

The all-electric tractors also have the ability to extend both front and rear axles, which can increase from 2.25m in length to 3.2m, allowing for improved weight distribution and greater ease of transport.

Alongside the battery-powered version, the company also produces tractors powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.

An impending gas shortfall in eastern Australia? This is just gas market Groundhog Day

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is yet again warning of imminent gas shortfalls for Australia’s east coast. In response, the federal government has announced another review into whether we need to reform our gas market regulation.

Given the ACCC has been running a gas market inquiry since 2017 and has been saying pretty much the same thing every year since – essentially that gas producers treat Australian consumers like second class citizens – isn’t the answer blindingly obvious?

For the past few years, the gas market has been stuck in Groundhog Day. Each year the gas producers tell us that the only problem is slow government approvals for new developments. Interestingly governments have approved many new gas developments, for example Santos’ Narrabri gas field was approved in 2020 but is yet to proceed.

Yet each year we find ourselves in the predicament of imminent shortfalls. Then the government steps in to “negotiate” (or is it beg?) for the gas producers to pretty please provide some extra gas to domestic consumers at a price that won’t cripple them. In response the gas companies miraculously find some extra gas under the couch and dribble out a little bit more, but not too much that it might noticeably reduce prices.

Some gas producers appear to be engaged in a phenomenon so well known to economists they’ve invented a term for it: “strategic withholding”. This is where a producer knows that if they pull back a bit on production then they can force up prices enough that it will increase their overall long-term profits. So, the government can grant permission to exploit extra gas fields, but that doesn’t mean a producer will give us extra gas if it will reduce prices.

The Victorian government proposed that in order to assist manufacturers desperate for gas, it would free up gas supply for them by switching households away from gas appliances to electric-powered ones. This would not only assist manufacturers, it would also leave households financially better off.

Independent analysis by the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found it would save households $6.3bn on their energy bills over 10 years, compared with an extra cost of new appliances of $3.5bn. Not to mention it would substantially reduce carbon emissions.

The counterattack from the oil and gas lobby was vociferous.