After years of trial runs at Napa Valley vineyards, Monarch Tractor is launching official sales of its fully electric and driver-optional tractor to farms across Central and Northern California.
The Livermore-based company will produce 60 of its Founder Series MK-V tractors by the end of the year. The first six have been purchased by Constellation Brands, a food and beverage conglomerate producing wine brands like Robert Mondavi.
In 2023, Monarch will transition its production to a Foxconn-owned plant in Lordstown, Ohio, aiming to produce thousands of vehicles annually for nationwide distribution, according to co-founder and President Mark Schwager. The company's research and development headquarters will remain in Livermore.
"I think in electrification, there are some companies that make and deliver products, and there are lots of companies that haven't gotten there yet," Schwager said. "I think Monarch has been one of the most, if not the most, time-efficient and capital-efficient companies to do that, and we're doing automation at the same time."
Farmers purchasing the tractors will receive hefty state subsidies thanks to California's Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project, which can bring the price of the $70,000 tractor down to about $25,000. Monarch also can receive tax subsidies of $7,500 per vehicle as part of the federal Inflation Reduction Act, but will need to ensure components of its batteries are produced domestically in order to qualify.
California regulation states that a driver must be in the seat of a tractor during operation, but Monarch has received special permission from Cal/OSHA to allow autonomous operation in the state, the only tractor manufacturer to do so. The company had tried to get the regulation amended in June for all companies but was denied by Cal/OSHA's board.
One potential pain point for adoption of electric tractors is the poor quality of some rural electrical grids and the potential for outages during wildfire season. The California Energy Commission awarded Monarch and a consortium of farm electrification companies $3 million to work on solutions to electrify farms, while not overloading the grid. This can include developing virtual power plants of energy usage among farm equipment, according to Schwager.
Monarch was founded in 2018 and has since raised over $110 million. Backers include Astanor Ventures, CNH Industrial and At One Ventures.
The tractors themselves are fully electric with a swappable battery that can be charged in around five hours and can charge other farm equipment. The vehicle is also equipped with an array of sensors to monitor crop health and provide analytics to the farmer. The company claims one human operator can manage a fleet of up to eight tractors in the field.
"Electrification and automation together are going to catch on like wildfire," Schwager said. "We can lower their cost basis and improve the quality of their operations by allowing them to farm just the way that they want to by teaching their vehicles exactly how they want their operations performed."
