Allis-Chalmers Farm Tractor Was First Fuel Cell Vehicle

September 4, 2008 | By Hydro Kevin Kantola | Filed in: Fuel Cells.

Allis-Chalmers Fuel Cell TractorA reader pointed out to me a couple of days ago that an Allis-Chalmers (AC) tractor actually predated the GM Electrovan as the world’s first fuel cell vehicle. I politely wrote back that the AC tractor ran on propane and not hydrogen.

But, I may have been too hasty with this reply, so I did a little more digging. In 1966 the GM Electrovan using a Union Carbide hydrogen fuel cell took a few laps around the General Motors’ parking lot to establish it as the first of its kind to do so.

But, on October 15, 1959 an Allis-Chalmers farm tractor with fuel cell was demonstrated in Milwaukee. The tractor was equipped with 1,008 individual cells and could haul 3,000 pounds. The Allis-Chalmers alkaline fuel cell was developed Harry Karl Ihrig, had the output of 15 kw of electricity and is currently housed in the Smithsonian Museum.

Using the same alkaline fuel cell technology first pioneered by Francis Thomas Bacon in the 1930’s, Allis Chalmers would go on to create a golf cart, submersible, and fork lift in the early 1960’s.

Propane was probably used as fuel for the alkaline fuel cell since it was readily available in that day and it is a hydrogen rich compound (C3H8). It also contains quite bit of carbon, which tends to poison alkaline fuel cells. Potassium hydroxide (or KOH) served as the electrolyte in the alkaline fuel cell.

Later versions of alkaline fuel cells would go onto use pure hydrogen and pure oxygen along with KOH to provide power. Propane would since be abandoned because of the impurities in the fuel that affect the fuel cell.

NASA went on to use alkaline fuel cells in the Gemini and Apollo missions to power onboard systems and create drinking water.

So, even though the Allis-Chalmers tractor did not use pure hydrogen to power the fuel cell it used one of the most widely available hydrogen-rich compounds at that time. The industry owes a lot to the pioneering efforts behind bringing this early fuel cell vehicle to public attention.


8 comments on “Allis-Chalmers Farm Tractor Was First Fuel Cell Vehicle

  1. I went to the Smithsonian to see the tractor several years ago. I could not find it. I asked several people at information desks and no one knew anything about it or even heard of it. Is it ever put on display ???

  2. Here is the reply from Hal Wallace:

    “Actually the A-C fuel cell tractor has been out on loan since the late ‘90s. If I’m not mistaken, it’s currently in Minnesota at the McLeod County Historical Society. Since we have room to display only a very small fraction of our holdings here, we try to get material out on loan when we can. The last time the tractor was on display here was in the early 1970s.”

    Hal Wallace
    Associate Curator
    Electricity Collections
    National Museum of American History

  3. Yes it is on display in the McLeod County Historical Society.I have seen it and taken a few photo’s of it just last fall.

  4. I saw it yesterday at the McLeod County Museum and was fascinated by it. I’m wondering why by now we don’t have vehicles galore running on fuel-cell power with on-board fuel sources. Can anyone enlighten me?

  5. Fuel cell vehicles are starting to come of age. The Hyundai FCV is available for lease now in Southern California and the Toyota FCV will be available in the spring and summer of 2015.

  6. A year or so ago, there was a discussion on on this forum about the fuel cell tractor that Allis-Chalmers experimented with in the late ’50s. At the time of the discussion the tractor was displayed at the McCleod County (Minnesota) Historical Museum. Does anyone have any good photos of the tractor that they would be willing to let me use to illustrate a story I want to do about the thing for Farm Collector Magazine?

    I would much appreciate the loan or copies of any such pix.

    Thanks.