Electric hand tractor made by ITS Mechanical Engineering lecturers and students who are members of the Abmas KKN team

ITS Campus, ITS News – The Product-based Real Work and Community Service Lecture Team (KKN Abmas) from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) developed an electric hand tractor. This innovation has also been donated to a farmer group in Wanar Village, Pucuk, Lamongan.

Representing the team, Alief Wikarta ST MScEng Ph.D. said that the tractor was developed to help farmers in land management. Interestingly, said Alief, the hand tractor designed by ITS is different from the hand tractor on the market because it uses electricity instead of diesel fuel or diesel engines.

Furthermore, the ITS Mechanical Engineering Department lecturer explained that the hand tractor was specially designed to use lithium-ion batteries as its energy storage. Based on the explanation, the use of this battery brings several advantages. “The advantages include faster charging, high power density, longer battery life, and lighter packaging,” explained the coach of the ITS electric formula car team, Anargya.

Socialization and education activities for electric-powered hand tractors by the ITS KKN Abmas team to residents

For Alief, the more electrically powered technology products, both for transportation and agriculture, the more benefits he will receive. Electric-powered technology does not produce exhaust emissions, so it is more friendly to the environment. In addition, cheaper electrical energy results in significant operational cost savings compared to fuel oil.

This electric hand tractor innovation was pioneered by seven lecturers and 15 ITS Mechanical Engineering Department students. This activity is carried out from mid-year until November 2021. According to Alief, Wanar Village was chosen as the research target because it is often used as a partner by ITS to implement agricultural technology.

Alief said, although there were problems with the Implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) some time ago, this activity was completed. “In the future, I hope that there will be continued development of this electric-powered agricultural product,” he hoped. (ITS Public Relation/far)

Reporter: Erchi Ad’ha Loyensya
Editor: Fatih Izzah