Would you buy an electric tractor?

[Tractorable]

I’m not convinced that battery technology is going to improve much. 100 years of research and billions spent on R&D and we still have batteries that are 15 times less energy dense than a tank of diesel. We just can’t figure out how to store energy.

In general, people don’t buy things that are less convenient than what they already have, so unless government forces their solution on the populace, the cure for reduced carbon emissions just may be worse than the disease.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

We are talking about 4.25% of the world population when you're talking about United States only

 

[buck12]

No, I do not want an electric tractor today but if and when technology gets to the point that it will accomplish the tasks I need done at a price I find reasonable I would consider one. My Dad bought a four wheel drive golf cart to putter around our rural property and we all love it. It is a great hunting and work tool. It is enjoyable for the wife, the kids, and I to go for a ride on the logging roads and carry on a conversation with the only sound being leafs crunching under the tires. Flip the seats over and throw a chainsaw and tools in the bed to do chores. Plug it up when finished and it is ready to go again the next day. It is especially nice hunting. The ATVs are seldom used now. While a golf cart is not a tractor, I could see the possibility of a tractor at some point.

I think back to what battery powered tools were thirty years ago and what they are today. I remember the first couple of battery powered drills I bought. They would drill a few holes or drive a few screws and need a charge. Today I have a full array of battery powered tools and rarely plug in a drill, saw, etc or for that matter use a pneumatic tool. I have been building a cabin for the last year and have only used my corded skill saw once and my cored drill rarely. Again a drill, impact, or jig saw is not a tractor but thirty years ago I never would I believed the quality and affordability of today’s battery powered tools.

I don’t know if I will be around to see a widely accepted battery powered tractor but I think my kids may see it.

 

[Grumpycat]

Ok, so if I show you a picture of a power pole just removed from power line system in my neighborhood with dowel pegs that held the old green glass insulators, would that change your mind that the power grid in my area is antiquated? Would that be factual enough for you, Gale Hawkins? It was just removed last week. If it痴 still there tomorrow, I will take a picture of it laying next to the road.

So what if it is 60-70 years old? It worked. You didn't want your electric power costs to go up just to replace functioning wires and poles?

Also, am I to understand you are saying we DO have enough charging stations for electric cars? Cause I sure as heck don稚 see even 1% of the charging stations we need.
There needs to be an infrastructure preparation put into place. That痴 not a 50 year old fact, that痴 a current/future fact.

You are suffering from The Gasoline Station Delusion. For some reason just because we have a gasoline station (or 4) on every corner you think an EV is not usable unless it too has charging stations equally spaced. The difference is that you have to go somewhere to fill your gas tank every couple days or every couple weeks. But for about $500 you can have a 10kW EVSE at your home which will fill the hungriest Tesla from dead flat to maximum range in 10 hours. 10 hours during the evening and morning when there is a great surplus of electrical power generation, some even offer 50% to 80% discounts for using power during those times.

So, you have an EV that easily drives 150 miles on one charge? When for 30 seconds of effort you could reach to the left for power cable, turn right and insert in car each night, just how often would you pay double the cost to use a public 150kW charging station at which you had to wait 15 minutes? The pathetic charging you see at some restaurants and grocery stores is rarely more than 7kW which takes an hour to put 20 miles of range in my Tesla. That is just fine for charging overnight but not worth the effort at the grocery store. Those are nothing but virtue signaling.

Elon Musk has the EV charging model correct. The proper application for quick charging high power stations is for facilitating travel between cities. Hence initial placements are 100-150 miles apart.

Hotels and homes are a good place for the $500 L2 10kW AC charging stations. Tesla calls "destination charging" and has a program to give away the hardware, even help pay the cost of installation, on the condition that one's customers not be charged for their use or electricity. The hotel can limit use to paying guests but can not charge for the service. Tesla even provides J1772 hardware for non-Teslas.

 

[Grumpycat]

I live 10 miles outside of the second largest metro area in Indiana along a US highway, and 3 miles from an interstate, and the closest commercial charging station is over 10 miles from me, that does not speak well for commercial chargers!

You suffer from the Gas Station Delusion. Why would you want to go someplace to charge for $0.26 to $0.49/kWh when you can do it at home for $0.05 to $0.15/kWh? You think that because you have always done that with the car and truck that this is the way things must always be?

Several times I have driven my Tesla 15 miles short of the full length of the state of Indiana. Stopped in Louisville, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne. And back again a few days later. 540 miles. About 10 hours including charging.

 

[GolfAddict]

You suffer from the Gas Station Delusion. Why would you want to go someplace to charge for $0.26 to $0.49/kWh when you can do it at home for $0.05 to $0.15/kWh? You think that because you have always done that with the car and truck that this is the way things must always be?

Several times I have driven my Tesla 15 miles short of the full length of the state of Indiana. Stopped in Louisville, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne. And back again a few days later. 540 miles. About 10 hours including charging.

I look at it this way.

If (for whatever silly reason) I decided to drive my tractor on a long road trip, I wouldn't start out with a quarter tank of fuel. I would belly up to my bulk tank and fill it with diesel that I purchased at a much cheaper bulk rate. I would roll by every filling station I passed along the way. If I ran too low on fuel to make it home, only then would I stop to add enough to make it.

If I used the tractor as my normal daily driver - to town for errands, if I had a job in town, etc. - I would certainly still fill it from my bulk tank as needed and never have a need to stop at a filling station at all.

I really like the idea of an electric vehicle, and we've toyed with the idea because it's getting past time to trade in our car. We really like the larger Tesla sedan, forget the name/number. We see them every so often now when we drive up to our closest larger town. They look like a really nice ride!

I'm hesitant, though. It's nice having a local dealer to call up and drop the car off for problems, service, new tires, etc. And if I'm far from home, I know there will be a dealer of my brand relatively close to call for any emergency help. Tesla's service model just seen so foreign! Certainly, for our very long road trips we can just rent a gas car and not worry about where to get a charge-up or emergency service and any of those worries.

 

[MossRoad]

You suffer from the Gas Station Delusion. Why would you want to go someplace to charge for $0.26 to $0.49/kWh when you can do it at home for $0.05 to $0.15/kWh? You think that because you have always done that with the car and truck that this is the way things must always be?

Several times I have driven my Tesla 15 miles short of the full length of the state of Indiana. Stopped in Louisville, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne. And back again a few days later. 540 miles. About 10 hours including charging.

That right there is the show stopper for most people. It's a 7 hour drive turned into a 10 hour drive.

Add to that studies show electric car range drops 17% in hot weather when air conditioning is used and 40% when heaters are used at 20F temps and you have to add up to 4 more hours to that drive turning a 7 hour drive in a gas car to a 14 hour drive in an electric car, 7 hours of which I'd be sitting at charging stations reading Tractor By Net. :laughing:

Tesla and other electric car batteries lose 40% of their range in extremely cold weather: AAA - MarketWatch

 

[MossRoad]

I could use an electric car around town, though. I'll admit that.

But until an electric tractor could put in an 8 hour day for the same price of ownership as a similarly capable combustion engine tractor, it's still a pocketbook issue for me. Most home owners don't put 8 hours on a tractor in a day. Anything longer and it break time anyway. I just don't want to turn 1 day jobs into 2 day jobs because of dead batteries. Farmers and commercial users, however, might be a tougher sell. AS mentioned, its just a 15 minute fill up and the machine is good for 8 more hours (or more).

 

[MossRoad]

Here's another example. We drove out to Oklahoma and back. It's a 12-13 hour drive one way. We stopped once along the way to fill up and grab lunch. 15-20 minutes. That's it. With an electric car, in winter, it tuns into two full days plus hotel stay each way. That hurts my wallet and also cuts into my time-bank. I'm limited on vacation days.

 

[Hay Dude]

So what if it is 60-70 years old? It worked. You didn't want your electric power costs to go up just to replace functioning wires and poles?



You are suffering from The Gasoline Station Delusion. For some reason just because we have a gasoline station (or 4) on every corner you think an EV is not usable unless it too has charging stations equally spaced. The difference is that you have to go somewhere to fill your gas tank every couple days or every couple weeks. But for about $500 you can have a 10kW EVSE at your home which will fill the hungriest Tesla from dead flat to maximum range in 10 hours. 10 hours during the evening and morning when there is a great surplus of electrical power generation, some even offer 50% to 80% discounts for using power during those times.

So, you have an EV that easily drives 150 miles on one charge? When for 30 seconds of effort you could reach to the left for power cable, turn right and insert in car each night, just how often would you pay double the cost to use a public 150kW charging station at which you had to wait 15 minutes? The pathetic charging you see at some restaurants and grocery stores is rarely more than 7kW which takes an hour to put 20 miles of range in my Tesla. That is just fine for charging overnight but not worth the effort at the grocery store. Those are nothing but virtue signaling.

Elon Musk has the EV charging model correct. The proper application for quick charging high power stations is for facilitating travel between cities. Hence initial placements are 100-150 miles apart.

Hotels and homes are a good place for the $500 L2 10kW AC charging stations. Tesla calls "destination charging" and has a program to give away the hardware, even help pay the cost of installation, on the condition that one's customers not be charged for their use or electricity. The hotel can limit use to paying guests but can not charge for the service. Tesla even provides J1772 hardware for non-Teslas.

I dont suffer from anything except an upcoming ever more oppressive government trying to ram electric cars through on people not realizing that I have different needs than theirs. Not everyone in this world can accomplish their tasks driving a little 4 seat tin can with no towing or load capacity.
Get out more, talk to more people, GC. It will open your mind and show you people want freedom. They dont want government forcing electric everything on them. If YOU want an electric car, GREAT, get one.