Nowadays there is a growing global interest in saving fossil fuel and reducing gas emissions for economical and ecological reasons. This research applied a method of classification of agricultural tractors depending on their energy efficiency, using the specific fuel consumption (in L kWh-1) as a comparison. The most important energy factor in these machines is the engine, followed by the transmission. This research is based on results of the OECD tractor test and classifies tractor models, which have been principally sold in Brazil. The tractors fueled by ethanol presented a high level of fuel consumption. The methodology allows us to understand how tractors perform in terms of energy efficiency.
coefficient; consumption index; transmission coefficient
