100 HP Plug In EV 4WD Tractor

[aczlan]

Depends on the tractor. The OP is talking about a 100 HP tractor which (in the busy seasons on a farm) probbaly gets used 12-18 hours per day. For a CUT such as your TC33, yes, I can see 6 hours or less per day, but I dont know if I would buy one as when we are working that many hours, we are trying to get hay in (usually before it rains) and we cant afford to wait for a battery to charge.

Aaron Z

 

[CliffordK]

With the batteries, you would need a quick change battery pack.
The Tesla battery pack can charge from zero to full in about 2 hours, I think.

Anyway, if one's charging station was somewhere near the field, one could swing by, drop the current battery pack, pick up a new pack, and be back out in the field quicker than one can fill the fuel tank with Diesel.

One of the limitations with electric cars is that one has to deal with "Road Trips", or the occasional time where one has to recharge hundreds of miles from home. But, many tractors never get more than 5 miles from home, so swapping a battery pack might be very efficient.

 

[jagyzf]

As a reference point you have Tesla Motors new Model S.

Its electric. With 300 mile range. 0->60 in 4.4secs and 440hp. 85kwatthours of battery. Batts cost $40k.

Scale a tractor down from there.. tractors need WAY WAY less than 440hp or 300 miles range.. but pulls a load more.. My TC33 has.... well 33hp lol

probably used 6 hours a day at 550rpm full tilt? and 7 gals of gas? which is about 1/4 of a car's tank. So energy storage wize a tractor is about 1/4 that of a fast car? Thus batts would cost $10k?

Cheaper than a gas engine.. and tank and gear box.. etc.

Sounds too good to be true.

Seems in the real world it is. The show Top Gear tested the Tesla and when pushed the car got less than 55 miles on a single charge. The NYT's also tested the car a month ago and drove as Tesla told them to, no passing, speed less than 55MPH, no heat, AC, or radio. Even with the extra batteries the car didn't come close to 300 miles. Cold and heat both have an effect on the batteries.

With a tractor you will be using the motor to put out a lot of power. As someone already said, a motor can run a long time on a battery, until you load the motor. Then you life drops off a huge amount.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/automobiles/stalled-on-the-ev-highway.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

As I crossed into New Jersey some 15 miles later, I noticed that the estimated range was falling faster than miles were accumulating. At 68 miles since recharging, the range had dropped by 85 miles, and a little mental math told me that reaching Milford would be a stretch.

I began following Tesla’s range-maximization guidelines, which meant dispensing with such battery-draining amenities as warming the cabin and keeping up with traffic. I turned the climate control to low — the temperature was still in the 30s — and planted myself in the far right lane with the cruise control set at 54 miles per hour (the speed limit is 65). Buicks and 18-wheelers flew past, their drivers staring at the nail-polish-red wondercar with California dealer plates.

I drove, slowly, to Stonington, Conn., for dinner and spent the night in Groton, a total distance of 79 miles. When I parked the car, its computer said I had 90 miles of range, twice the 46 miles back to Milford. It was a different story at 8:30 the next morning. The thermometer read 10 degrees and the display showed 25 miles of remaining range — the electrical equivalent of someone having siphoned off more than two-thirds of the fuel that was in the tank when I parked.

Read the whole story to make sure I'm not cherry picking, no where does the car come close to the claims. There are other tests out there, none I have read show the car doing what is claimed.



Tesla took the show Top Gear to court and lost.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news...bel-case-over-top-gears-roadster-review-again

 

[daugen]

Depends on the tractor. The OP is talking about a 100 HP tractor which (in the busy seasons on a farm) probbaly gets used 12-18 hours per day. For a CUT such as your TC33, yes, I can see 6 hours or less per day, but I dont know if I would buy one as when we are working that many hours, we are trying to get hay in (usually before it rains) and we cant afford to wait for a battery to charge.

Aaron Z

Aaron, you're right, my ten hours is low when time is tight and weather is threatening.
I have no idea where I got this idea, but shouldn't a tractor's fuel tank be sized for a "full day's work"?

I don't see replaceable plug and play power cartridges until Buck Rogers arrives.
And no one, but no one, is going to wait for something to recharge in the middle of the day.
so yes, it has to last for a longer day.

I'm carefully researching ditching my gas outboard and changing it out for a German Torqueedo outboard.
so I've been studying range, and it sure is a tradeoff. Use half power and last a long time. Use all the hp in the motor
and that fuel meter will go down like an old Chevy gas gauge past half tank, zoom.

Plowing, discing, baling hay, all sucks a lot of hp. I can see the friendly neighbor coming out to help his buddy in the field,
with a D battery and a smile...
True EV may not make sense, like in a car. Need a gen onboard.

Ok. Ratchet this down to a JD 4720 or my L5740, two well known compact tractors.
Now size really becomes an issue.
I still like my idea of a battery pack one can pull behind, like the coal tender on a steam train...
Or maybe use them to weight down the discs! Worlds most expensive concrete blocks.

 

[aczlan]

Aaron, you're right, my ten hours is low when time is tight and weather is threatening.
I have no idea where I got this idea, but shouldn't a tractor's fuel tank be sized for a "full day's work"?

If running a 100HP tractor, you probably have a 30+ gallon fuel tank. For example, the Deere 6125d (125HP) has a 41.7 gallon tank and the Deere 5090R (100 HP) has either a 36 gallon fuel tank or a 39 gallon fuel tank.
The biggest problem with a battery pack is that on an ICE machine, you can refill a fuel tank in 5 minutes, not so with a battery. I dont see electric battery swapping becoming a big thing (for farm work anyways) as you aren't generally close enough to the farm to plug it in when you switch batteries.
For a spreader tractor, or a loader tractor I could see it, but not for a tillage machine or one that you are using full PTO power on.

Aaron Z

 

[JasG]

Batteries can be changed quickly. Our order picker at work can do this in under 5 minutes. Now that is with very special equipment on a concrete floor. We have a bank that the spare batteries are placed in for storage and charging. These batteries are about 3'L X 1.5'W X 2'H and take 8-10 hours to charge. I've been told they are 4-500 lbs. each I don't know how long a battery last though because no one stays right with one all day. Depending on where the order is they will usually go to the lift closest to the rack they need to pull from.

Now as far as using a battery for weight or pulling one on a trailer. Farming is rough, ground is rough. One of the differences I was told between a car battery and a tractor battery is how strong they are built, but they are not made to be crashed or even still vibration over time kill's them. The Chevy volt batteries caught fire after being crash tested. Not at the time of the test, but 1-2 weeks after the test. I would hate to have a machine that the batteries when they go bad burst into flames. Even laptop and phone batteries have caught fire. The batteries of the new 787 aircraft are now under investigation as a fire hazard. Bottom line is placing them on a disk, or hay mower, baler etc, I wouldn't think would be a good idea at this time.

 

[BrandonR]

Sounds too good to be true.

Seems in the real world it is. The show Top Gear tested the Tesla and when pushed the car got less than 55 miles on a single charge. The NYT's also tested the car a month ago and drove as Tesla told them to, no passing, speed less than 55MPH, no heat, AC, or radio. Even with the extra batteries the car didn't come close to 300 miles. Cold and heat both have an effect on the batteries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/automobiles/stalled-on-the-ev-highway.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Tesla has released the diagnostics from the car showing that the NYT writer lied about how he was running the car and about it's performance.

In Tesla Vs. NYT, Data Won | Final Inspection

And the Tesla VS top gear suit was thrown out because the court felt that no reasonable person would compare track performance to real world performance, that's obviously wrong since so many people buy camry's because they see then in nascar

 

[jobguy]

Electric Allis-Chalmers "G" Cultivating Tractor - YouTube
Elec. tractor

 

[peteh007]

Tesla has released the diagnostics from the car showing that the NYT writer lied about how he was running the car and about it's performance.

In Tesla Vs. NYT, Data Won | Final Inspection

And the Tesla VS top gear suit was thrown out because the court felt that no reasonable person would compare track performance to real world performance, that's obviously wrong since so many people buy camry's because they see then in nascar

I got t tesla recently. If I don't go too crazy with the acceptation and I don't run around smoking corvettes and vipers.. And I try to behave like an adult .. (Hard!) ... Then I get about 275 miles. I imagine I could get over 300 if I drove at 45-55 and also I can see getting 200 if I peddle to the metal... So it's like a full tank of gas in an m5. Very similar.

 

[peteh007]

I agree. For small CUTs running 6 hrs a day it seems to work. But not at 100hp/14hrs a day.

Love the tender idea.

Although I could see a batt swap happening in the barn with a mini hoist or scissor jack. And an array of batts parked next to my array of dewalt batts . Lol