Would you buy an electric tractor?

[Jim Nelson]

LeTourneau was a huge fan on electric construction equipment. He invented a lot of what is used in mining. He also liked putting a motor at each wheel, and he said that electric motors have so much more torque then diesel that you don't need a transmission.

It's just a matter of time until it happens, there are too many advantages to electric drive motors over diesel.

But for me, at this time, it's a no. With all of my tractors, every issue that I have with them is electrical. I finally got my small tractor running reliabley by removing every single wire on it, and then just having the bare minimum wiring to keep it going. Starter. Alternator and a manual push button to the injectors to warm them up. I even removed my solenoid electric actuator and use a manual cable to open or close it!!!

Back in ancient times, when I was young, I worked in underground mines in Colorado and used both electric and diesel loaders, known as mucking machines in the industry. The electric had a long cable on a spring loaded reel mounted to the back. They were all wheel drive and did a good job. No noise and no fumes. They were fine as long as everything worked but it took a pretty good sized electrical crew to keep up with everything working in a dusty atmosphere and cables getting hung up on rock debris etc..

The diesel rigs, also known as "Scoopies" worked well also but the exhaust scrubbers were not quite up to snuff and they required a lot more ventilation in the mine drifts or tunnels. The scrubbers were also high maintenance.They had solid rubber tires so were pretty rough riding.

All and all it was pretty much a toss up dependability wise, but the electric was by far a lot cleaner in that environment.

As far as personally owning an electric tractor, I would love it if it were to become affordable and dependable. I don't expect to see this in my life time, hopefully in my Grandkids as my youngest Grandson,16, has his heart set on taking over his other Grandpa's farm.

 

[5030]

The title pretty much says it. There are a few companies out there either developing or already getting units out that are entirely electric. Like the tesla of tractors. Would you consider one? Curious to what you think the pros and cons are.

Here's one that I heard about:

Monarch Tractor

NO. Cost prohibitive except for hobby farming. JD has one as well, a Utility model, run time is 6 hours per charge. I farm 10 hours a day, not 6. Farming right now. The JD model will set you back 150 grand. No farmer in their right mind would have one.

 

[paulfun9]

No! Mainly because they will tie everything into the computer and make next to impossible to work on. If it was made in a more simple fashion with easy to diagnose failures and electronic components rather than all computer controlled functions there might be a chance.
My buss system in the BMW gave false or inaccurate readings 2 times in the last week, cost to diagnose and fix the fault will be crazy. My friend lost or dropped 7 calls from my property alone over the weekend. My computer has decided to do what ever it wants all by itself again and my notepad has locked up for no reason several times last week alone. And they want me to buy something that’s completely dependent on the computer for its operation, NO WAY!

Sorry folks but if battery tech gets good I would buy a set of batteries and build my own tractor without a computer controlling everything. If they build one like that maybe I might change my position.

 

[MossRoad]

At my last job one of my duties was repairing electric lift tables/pallet jacks(up/down only), electric skid movers (up/down and drive), electric skid wrappers, things like that. Probably 50 pieces of equipment. A night hardly went by without some problem with those pieces of equipment. Cracked wires in flex points. Loose terminals. Bad relays. Bad switches. Bad batteries (lead acid). Bad wheel bearings due to dust and weight. Bad processor boards on the skid wrappers. Bad battery chargers. The list is pretty long. Seemed to have way more problems than any internal combustion machines I've ever dealt with. I don't think electronics can take a beating, vibration, high dust environment, heat, that a tractor environment can dish out.

 

[5030]

At my last job one of my duties was repairing electric lift tables/pallet jacks(up/down only), electric skid movers (up/down and drive), electric skid wrappers, things like that. Probably 50 pieces of equipment. A night hardly went by without some problem with those pieces of equipment. Cracked wires in flex points. Loose terminals. Bad relays. Bad switches. Bad batteries (lead acid). Bad wheel bearings due to dust and weight. Bad processor boards on the skid wrappers. Bad battery chargers. The list is pretty long. Seemed to have way more problems than any internal combustion machines I've ever dealt with. I don't think electronics can take a beating, vibration, high dust environment, heat, that a tractor environment can dish out.

lets not talk about electronics. My new NH round baler is 100% electronic controlled and it's a PITA to deal with. If it's not the net wrapper operating correctly, it's the bale load sensors acting wacky and getting the dealer rep involved is a joke, I can diagnose it and adjust it better than he can. When it's running right it's hard to beat. When it's not, I want to beat it with a large hammer.

I can imagine an electric tractor turning into an oversize toaster. Cars have suspensions to take the bump out of bumps. Tractors don't have suspensions (except the seat) so every bump a tractor takes, the electrical / electronic components takes the same hit.

My biggest consumable (next to lubricants) is starting batteries. I get maybe 3 years from a top line battery and it's done from the constant pounding.

That and the duty cycle of an electric tractor. Like I said, 6 hours don't cut it and is that 6 hours at rated horsepower or does it decrease with discharge?

Not gonna happen at this farm. I had a hard enough time avoiding Tier 4 final diesels. Not interested in emissions junk that fails either. All lowest bidder components. Downtime (especially now) can mean the difference between being profitable or running at a loss which is easy to do farming.

Might be fine for the hobby farmer though. Not for any serious farm operation.

 

[kenmac]

I would probably buy an electric tractor over a new tractor with all the engine emissions .
They didn't have all the kinks worked out on them, and people couldn't wait to purchase one

 

[hdmyers]

At my last job one of my duties was repairing electric lift tables/pallet jacks(up/down only), electric skid movers (up/down and drive), electric skid wrappers, things like that. Probably 50 pieces of equipment. A night hardly went by without some problem with those pieces of equipment. Cracked wires in flex points. Loose terminals. Bad relays. Bad switches. Bad batteries (lead acid). Bad wheel bearings due to dust and weight. Bad processor boards on the skid wrappers. Bad battery chargers. The list is pretty long. Seemed to have way more problems than any internal combustion machines I've ever dealt with. I don't think electronics can take a beating, vibration, high dust environment, heat, that a tractor environment can dish out.

We make parts for equipment going miles underground..high heat / high reliability environment where a problem means millions to pull the rig out and start all over again. The design and materials makes failure a rare occurrence. An electric vs combustion system will have less parts to wear, simpler fixing... unless you pour your own pistons in your shed and make your own connecting rods and chew and spit wrist pins for leisure like most here do It's fun to read this thread. Bring it back in 10 years to enjoy again... Times change ..a lot faster than we can often fathom or swallow.

 

[strantor]

There should have been some electric tractors available by now, it seems to me.[...]As for tractors, they will not have the problem with weight

Excellent point. Weight reduction (or perhaps better stated as range extension without massive weight increase) seems to have been (seems to be) the primary concern or drive in the development of EVs. Therefore it seems the electric tractor should have been the perfect development platform to advance EV technology without such high stakes. I wonder why nobody ever thought to capitalize on the opportunity until now?

 

[strantor]

The answer to a lot of these issues will come when machine/vehicle rooftop solar panels are effective enough to charge the battery while in operation. I don't see that in the next 10 years.

I don't see it happening ever. Even in perfect atmospheric conditions and with a theorically 100% efficient solar panel, the sun only delivers so much energy per square foot, and that amount of energy is not enough to power a passenger vehicle. At least not what we consumers would consider to be a proper passenger vehicle (i.e. something capable of highway speeds with a climate controlled cabin).

Look at the size of the solar panels on satellites. They have the advantage of being able to get their solar energy without any atmosphere to interfere, and they're still enormous, and just to power a few radios and instruments.

 

[strantor]

At my last job one of my duties was repairing electric lift tables/pallet jacks(up/down only), electric skid movers (up/down and drive), electric skid wrappers, things like that. Probably 50 pieces of equipment. A night hardly went by without some problem with those pieces of equipment. Cracked wires in flex points. Loose terminals. Bad relays. Bad switches. Bad batteries (lead acid). Bad wheel bearings due to dust and weight. Bad processor boards on the skid wrappers. Bad battery chargers. The list is pretty long. Seemed to have way more problems than any internal combustion machines I've ever dealt with. I don't think electronics can take a beating, vibration, high dust environment, heat, that a tractor environment can dish out.

At my last job (really, I'm not mocking you) I designed control systems for automated electric subsea tools. All electronics had to be rated for a minimum level of vibration and pressure, as well as other parameters. On the mechanical side, metals and coatings had to be carefully chosen to avoid galvanic corrosion. We made pretty solid tools. If we humans can design robotic electro-gadgets that perform critical tasks in 5,000ft of water then surely we can make an electric skid wrapper (or a tractor) that doesn't spend more time broke down than running. It's all about quality; how cheaply we can deliver quality and how much quality the consumer is willing to pay for. Automobiles are a good example. They're basically robots these days, and by most reports they are lasting longer than ever before (plastics not withstanding).