How long before Compact Diesels are obsolete?

[MiserableOldFart]

I am 70. Have a fairly new tractor with 145 hours on it. It will not matter.

Plus I want a cab with A/C and heat. More battery sucking 渡eeds?

I'm 70. I have a 14 year old tractor and would like something a little bigger, but it probably won't matter for me, either.

 

[MiserableOldFart]

Back in the late 70s during the Carter era, my old man fell for an electric tractor. It was called an ElecTrak E-20. It had a front mount mower. Same principal as whats being proposed today.
Back in the 50s and 60s my grandfather bought several of the Philadelphia Post Office battery powered delivery trucks. He sold the aluminum bodies off them.
Folks, none of this is new. Battery powered cars were available 100 years ago. Battery powered vehicles go back almost as far as combustion engine vehicles.
What is new is the battery technology and the leap in microchip computer controls.

Absolutely. The batteries are a big deal. They were making battery powered horseless carriages before the turn of the 20th Century, I think. Huge improvements in battery technology are what makes this even thinkable.

 

[MiserableOldFart]

Worked as a electric lineman for 39 years.Everyone has grand plans for electric cars, trucks,tractors and so on.I am here to tell you the electric power grid will not handle it.The grid can barely keep up now.Most of the power grids were built back in the 30,s 40,50,s and 1960,s with minimal upgrades.Just some food for thought.

The grid has peak and off peak. Most EVs will be charged at night, off-peak. Also some of the juice will come from home generated electricity. If the grid can't handle the night charges, those with solar panels can charge charging batteries during the day from the sun instead of selling to the grid at wholesale.

 

[MiserableOldFart]

The electric lawn tractors of the 70s weren't that good. Notice that in promotional videos they are always clipping grass that's only grown 1/2 inch. Taller grass the batteries didn't last long. Plus you had to watch overheating blade motors in high load conditions. That's why they didn't last in the marketplace.

In the future there will still be gears and transmissions needed to keep motors in optimal torque and efficiency ranges. With all the technology these will not be the simple to work on low cost devices predicted in the original post. They will not be silent and will have a characteristic whine.

There are plenty of good electric lawn mowers now. The problems with earlier electric lawn tractors were mostly due to batteries. I'm sure there are ways of getting around the blade motor problems. Blades will likely be driven off the main motors or hydraulically anyway on CUTs.

 

[MiserableOldFart]

Worldwide, much of the electric power used to charge these battery powered tractors (and primarily cars) will be produced by coal fired plants, with the associated power distribution networks requiring massive upgrades.
There is no FREE LUNCH!

Actually, studies have shown that even when electricity is generated by coal plants, electric cars are less polluting than ICE vehicles. So there's that. There is also, again the move to cleaner energy generated by rooftop solar or by power plants running on solar, wind ore even nuclear if there are technology advances in the nuke direction.

 

[MiserableOldFart]

Tractors currently in small-scale production and sales.
Solectrac Electric Tractors | United States

Again, I'm interested here mainly in CUT sized tractors. Very large farm tractors, from what I understand already have several Electric models out there working right now. Where the 100+ hp trade will go, I know not, but I would expect that to be populated by electrics sooner than CUTs because of the enormous prices involved with big diesel tractors.

Don't know if Deere is still testing and developing..

John Deere's electric tractor in action - YouTube

 

[grsthegreat]

The grid has peak and off peak. Most EVs will be charged at night, off-peak. Also some of the juice will come from home generated electricity. If the grid can't handle the night charges, those with solar panels can charge charging batteries during the day from the sun instead of selling to the grid at wholesale.

most charging stations run between 40-50 amps (ones that i have installed). the cars charge for something like 8 continuous hours. correct me if im wrong, but most home solar arrays barely put out 50 amps of power during the daytine, and certainly not at night. you cant store enough batteries to supply 50 amp draw for 8 hours to charge your car at night. at least not in the systems that i have worked on.

 

[Engineer42]

CASE 58 EV - The Industry's First Fully Electric Backhoe Loader | CASE Construction Equipment. Maybe sooner than we think.

 

[Snobdds]

CASE 58 EV - The Industry's First Fully Electric Backhoe Loader | CASE Construction Equipment. Maybe sooner than we think.

I can see it now. A highway project lined with electric equipment plugged into diesel generators.

I think its well intentioned, but everyone is still limited by battery and source of power.

 

[Jstpssng]

I can see it now. A highway project lined with electric equipment plugged into diesel generators.

I think its well intentioned, but everyone is still limited by battery and source of power.

If we don't try though, things will always remain the same. Imagine if Neil Armstrong had said "I don't feel like going down that ladder"?