On Tuesday, Nokia will test drive a tractor equipped with a diesel engine that will be refueled with electric fuel made from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide. VTT, a technology research center, says it will test the electric fuel for the first time in vehicle use on Tuesday. Electric fuels are made from carbon dioxide and water with the help of electrical energy, with hydrogen being an important intermediate product. Together with companies, VTT has developed the production of electric fuel for commercial applications and industrial scale.
The responsible leader of the project, Juha Lehtonen, a research professor at VTT, said in an announcement that the fuel can be used to replace fossil diesel fuel in areas that are difficult to electrify, such as heavy road traffic and shipping. It can also be used in work machines. Next, they aim to get information about the usability of the fuel through a field test. The tractor refueled with electric fuel is being tested at Agco Power’s factory in Nokia by a tractor equipped with a diesel engine. During the test drive, which lasts several hours, various emissions in the exhaust gases are measured among other things. Agco Power’s director of product development Kari Aaltonen said that this project received EUR 3.3 million in funding from Business Finland and additional investments increase funding to more than EUR six million from parallel research and product development efforts by companies involved.