Up to a 30% reduction in fuel for high-clearance tractors and grape harvesters

oël Leloup, the workshop manager at Vignobles Larose-Trintaudon in the Médoc, is delighted. He has just ordered three new kits from Ecopra, to be mounted on the estate's agricultural machinery. “Vehicles use less fuel with the comburator”, says Xavier Dumartin, sales representative for the Auvergne-based manufacturer. The kit humidifies and improves the air entering the engine – “and it takes about 15,000 litres of air to burn a litre of fuel” – leading to better combustion, reduced consumption and increased torque, without affecting the manufacturer's warranty. “For around 700 euros, it can be fitted to any vehicle, whether it runs on petrol, diesel or gas. Because of their constant speed, it saves 15 to 30% of fuel on agricultural machinery”, adds Dumartin.

After fitting the equipment initially to a Frema Tractis high-clearance tractor in 2019, Joël Leloup saw his consumption drop by 20%, from 9.28 to 6.84 L/h. “That's a saving of 528 litres for 220 hours of work”, he says. Over the summer and the plant protection season, consumption even fell by 31%. Convinced of the equipment’s efficacy, he asked for another kit to be fitted to a Gregoire G7.240 grape harvesting machine. “In 2019, we saw a 12% drop for 217 hours of harvesting”, he says. In 2020, as the kit provided more torque, Leloup decided to install two additional downshifts on his G7. “We increased the engine rpm by 200 to make the turbine turn faster. Before 2020, we were using 3.17 L/ha. This time we only needed 12.92L/h to do 4.5 ha or 2.87L/ha. We did the same work in half the time and saved 10.5% of fuel”, said Leloup.

In his latest trial with a Tecnoma TPH100CD high-clearance tractor, Leloup noted a 16% drop in fuel consumption. “It fluctuated a lot when the tractor was on the road, but much less in the vineyard where the tractor was working at a given speed”.