Green Orchards

Green Orchards

Episode 4029 , Episode 4042
Auto Value and Bumper to BumperTire Rack "The Way Tire Buying Should Be"

Many carmakers are pledging to go all-electric in the near future, so other forms of hard working machinery are starting to follow suit…including down on the farm where Green Acres is truly the place to be.

Although farm tractors and the jobs they do have become more sophisticated and high-tech over the years, the heavy chassis and engines under the hood haven't always kept pace with that progress and most still rely primarily on diesel fuel.

Hummingbird EV is one company looking to upset that status quo apple cart. They’ve teamed up with the San Joaquin Valley Clean Cities Coalition, Project Clean Air, and others to place four prototype zero-emission electric tractors in service at one of the country’s largest fruit growers.

These EV tractors are fitted with 120 peak kilowatt electric motors tied to Hummingbird controllers and software. With 25 kilowatt-hour battery packs and 65 horsepower, performance is equivalent to a gas or diesel tractor of the same size.

Moonlight companies, in Reedley, California, is an ideal test bed. They operate year-round, growing all varieties of citrus and stone fruits...from peaches, plums, and pomegranates.. to grapes, lemons, oranges and -- during our visit, lots and lots of mandarins -- and shipping them fresh to markets all over the globe.

This third-generation farm is committed to using environmentally-sound practices and investing in the latest technology. They even have a 2-megawatt on-site solar farm which powers much of their packing and cold-storage operations. So trying out these EV tractors for the past year was an easy call.

TY TAVLAN: We use approximately 80 small diesel-powered tractors during the harvest season to pull our fruit through the field. For this particular function, since it pulls fruit, and then it stops..then it pulls fruit again and then it stops, we can get approximately two days worth of work out of the tractor.

What we really like about it is, it’s basically maintenance-free, it starts every time, and it works just fine.

JOHN DAVIS: The battery-electric tractors in this test are paired with an all-electric class 6 vehicle-to-vehicle charging truck, also designed by Hummingbird. It can provide up to 40 kilowatts of level 2 AC charging, enough to juice up two tractors simultaneously, eliminating time-consuming round-trips back to the charging station; a big advantage, especially during harvest. The truck itself has an 88 kilowatt-hour battery pack and 90 miles of range.

Hummingbird’s expertise is designing and scaling electric powertrains for medium duty applications like mining, utilities and food delivery. And they are challenging the notion that one size fits all down on the farm.     

RAKESH KONERU: Every tractor has a certain demand in terms of the battery pack size and things like that..how long they use, how long they drive, so on and so forth, so where we’re unique is we’re trying to adapt where the commonality of parts come into play. So, when you try to scale it up, it’s easy to mix and match a production line with different scale of vehicles with the same system.

JOHN DAVIS: Like any farm in America, economics comes into play here too. Drought conditions in California and elsewhere have forced growers to cultivate fewer acres to conserve water, meaning tighter crop density is the key to making ends meet. So tractors of the future may need to hug the ground to fit under closely-planted trees, or be extra skinny to drive between them.

RAKESH KONERU: The main idea for us was to showcase the capability of what an electrification can bring into farming, but at the same time we’re also exploring the idea of what it takes for the farmer to be ready for future farming.

And every farm has a different, unique, requirement. If you go to a vineyard, for example, their needs are completely different, so when we see the market expansion, we want to explore the idea of, let’s design a chassis from the ground level up, which is well thought out you know, which can stick on for the next generations.

JOHN DAVIS: This type of custom design is well-suited for the flexible packaging afforded by electric battery packs. So it looks the E-volution of modern farming in the near future may well be fueled by the EV revolution of today.

1994 Audi RS2 3/4 Front

1994 Audi RS2

One Truly Amazing Avant

by Roger Mecca
Episode 4328
Auto Value and Bumper to BumperTire Rack "The Way Tire Buying Should Be"

For years, America’s Audi fans could only dream of owning one of the sporty station wagons only available to the Quattro faithful across the Atlantic. Finally, in 2021, Audi brought the 591-horsepower RS6 to our shores, and this year, they’re sending an even faster version. But as our Roger Mecca is going to show us, Audi’s history of lightning-quick wagons under the RS name are what US car fans have been lusting for, for more than 20 years.

ROGER MECCA: In the early ‘90s, Audi was living in the shadow of its German peers Mercedes and BMW, and considered an alternative, quirky option like Saab or Volvo- not the premier luxury brand they are today.

Audi was eager to be taken as seriously as its Bavarian brethren and needed a big splash with a halo car that could not be ignored.

The result was the RS2, the first Audi to ever carry the RS badge and the world’s first truly fast station wagon. And it helped Audi succeed in getting the attention of serious car fans. But they didn’t do it alone. They had help from another very iconic German brand.

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In the early ‘90s, Porsche was in deep financial trouble, but still carried respect as a premier performance brand. Though Audi knew plenty about making fantastic racecars, with their storied rally racing history, they didn’t have the cache or recognition as a company that made sports cars.

So, when Audi approached them with a proposal to collaborate, Porsche was happy to take the engineering fee. Using the existing Audi 80 wagon as the base, the RS2 was developed over 18 months, and roughly 2900 of them rolled off the line at Porsche’s Stuttgart factory from 1994 to 1995. The very same line where another legendary four-wheel drive turbocharged car was produced, the Porsche 959.

So, just how much Porsche is there in the RS2? A lot.

Starting in the front, you got the badge that says Porsche, the front fog lights are from a 911; the sideview mirrors are from a 911; these wheels are from a later 911, but they rolled off the factory with a 968 club sport wheels. I think the rear taillight bar looks a lot like a 911 from the time. The suspensions tuned by Porsche, the brakes are from Porsche, the calipers say Porsche, and then we haven’t even gotten to what Porsche did under the hood.

The engine started out as Audi’s stalwart, if odd, 2.2-liter turbocharged five-cylinder. But then Porsche added a bigger turbo, a larger intercooler, a new ECU and a new camshaft. Porsche also added a six-speed manual gearbox, the only shifting option available for RS2 buyers. As you might expect, the results of Porsche’s tinkering were remarkable.

The engine puts out 315 horsepower and goes to 60 in 4.8 seconds. Now, that does not seem super fast today, I know, but back in 1994 that was faster than Ferrari’s flagship V12 coupe, the 456. In fact, Audi would not make another car that was faster to 60 for 10 years.

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Unfortunately, that power isn’t nearly as immediate or available as Ferrari’s grand tourer, and the addition of the RS2’s bigger turbo came at a price that was all too familiar in the 90s- turbo lag. To get everything out of this car, and the engine, you need to keep the exhaust pressure up and the turbo spinning. Let them wind down and the performance goes with it, along with the excitement- until the RPMs climb back into the fun zone.

But once it hits, oof, it is intense! You go from no drama at all to being thrust into the back of your seat like you’re on a rocket.”

In terms of how it rides, it feels wonderfully civilized and firmly planted at speed. Though the RS2 has a reputation for not being a great car in the twisty stuff, I found it to be a ton of fun to power into a corner, have it confidently hold its line, and shoot out the other side. Porsche’s work on the suspension is evident and there’s great steering feel and feedback. Plus, you get all of this excitement in a car with terrific visibility, comfort and practicality.

The RS2 was the best of both worlds. You could pack the whole family up for a wonderful vacation, but you could go 100 miles-an-hour down the Autobahn to get there.

Since the RS2, Audi has introduced a plethora of cars, wagons and SUVs with the RS name, all of which could easily leave the RS2 in a cloud of dust and smoke. But none of them made as much of an impression as this unassuming station wagon, the car that helped Audi grab the world’s attention.