Electric tractor conversion when oil is $200

[Big Bri]

while i think this would be a great idea as elect. motors have lots of torque. i think the cost of turning your diesel tractor to elect. will cost more than just buying diesel fuel for the next 20 years. but thats just a guess.

 

[radman1]

Even if oil got to $200/barrel, I don't expect it would affect CUT owners much as far as their tractor usage. These things sip fuel.
Where we will be affected is the reduction of disposable income steming from those fuel costs...we may not be able to afford these expensive toys. For those of you with short memories, grocery prices skyrocketed when fuel prices jumped to $100/barrel, and they'll do it again.
.

I totally agree.

 

[rj's barn]

While I can see traditional fossil fuels to skyrocket, I can also see we Americans doing what we do best when that happens. We get creative and we get there quick. We love burning hydrocarbons and it's hard to get a battery bank to do the same amount of work that good old diesel does. There are literally dozens of emerging technologies working towards other sources of petroleum in existing deposits like oil shale and recompleting existing wells that will inevitably come down in price after the kinks in the technology are worked out and they become market viable.
I dont think we are ready to go to batteries just yet. At least I hope not!

 

[AKfish]

While I can see traditional fossil fuels to skyrocket, I can also see we Americans doing what we do best when that happens. We get creative and we get there quick. We love burning hydrocarbons and it's hard to get a battery bank to do the same amount of work that good old diesel does. There are literally dozens of emerging technologies working towards other sources of petroleum in existing deposits like oil shale and recompleting existing wells that will inevitably come down in price after the kinks in the technology are worked out and they become market viable.
I dont think we are ready to go to batteries just yet. At least I hope not!

I agree..

In addition to improving the efficiency of existing sources, there are emerging technologies for producing diesel fuel from algae and a number of different plant sources.

Some of that focus includes genetic engineering to increase yield, shorten maturity times and maximize added uses of the remaining material.

I like the idea of filling up the tank with fuel that we can grow more of next year and next year and the year after that...

(And does not take food from anyone's plate -- even if it's a beef cow... )

AKfish

 

[KeithT]

So they say, the price of oil will top $200 a barrel within 10 years.

The president of Toyota says their company is anticipating the day that the cost of gasoline for autos will be prohibitive, so they are investing in alternative drive trains.

So, if I buy a tractor today that I want to fulfill my needs for the next 30 years, stands to reason that I'd want to do one of two things-

1-Get the cheapest, smallest I can to do the work I need to do now, and expect that I will replace it with an electric tractor in 10-20 years.

2-Get a tractor that I can most easily convert to electric at a later date.

If I get a tractor that I plan to convert, makes sense not to get a hydrostatic. Hydro is basically compensating for the problems of an internal combustion engine- the fact that you must run it at a constant rpm. With an electric motor on a gear drive, you don't need to clutch to stop and start. You have infinite speed in any gear. If the PTO runs off a separate motor, the implement stays at a constant speed no matter the tractor speed, just like hydro.

Are we all going to be talking amperage and battery capacity in a few years, rather than gear versus hydro?

Look at these electric tractors on youtube:

YouTube - Electric Tractor Development.wmv

JG

You are thinking in terms of todays technology to address a problem that may (big maybe) happen in 10 years. Natural gas, oil sands/shale, bio fuels as mentioned, I have no worries about what will be fueling tractors in the future. I would put a steam engine in my tractor before I would put batteries in it.

 

[D7E]

When oil was $100 diesel was around $2.75 a gallon, so lets guess with $200 oil diesel will be around $5.50 a gallon. How much do you plan to use your tractor? I would guess fuel consumption on a compact tractor to be between 1/2 and 3/4 gallon per hour. How many hours will you realistically use your tractor? I would guess the average owner puts 100 hours or less per year.

When diesel in the uk is around $10 a gal i don't think we can complain too much..???