Electric Tractor Manufacturer Ramps Up Production

[MossRoad]

An electric forklift? That will never work!!! What if it catches fire?!!! That's why nobody has ever tried it!!!! /s

At the newspaper we had half a dozen electric clamp trucks for moving 2x 2000# paper rolls. For indoor use, they were great as no emissions. However, they required checking the battery fluids pretty often, and when the batteries went bad, $$$$$$$. Eventually, they switched to propane powered clamp trucks. They never had to run for full shifts, just a couple hours at a time. We also had a lot of battery powered skid movers, pallet lifters, auto plastic wrappers and such. Those were all lead acid batteries like the clamp trucks. They also required fluid maintenance on a regular basis. I can't imagine what the cost would be to convert the lead acid to lithium. Anyhow, from a practical standpoint from the bean counters, the propane units were more affordable.

 

[ponytug]

For a moving vehicle, there is a big weight reduction switching from lead acid to lithium batteries, and a total elimination of battery maintenance. For a forklift, or many tractor applications that may not be a win, but for other uses, it is.

I could easily get by with an electric tractor. I almost never run WOT for four, much less eight hours. Combining corn or soybeans, or racing against weather for hay is a whole different story. Different strokes for different folks.

A friend who was an early, early electric vehicle inventor and successful EV racer, holding several world records, worked out how to get an 80% charge in 20 minutes. The down side is that you basically have to be at a substation (500V at 3-400A). Could you do a combine like that? Yes, but there would be a nonzero infrastructure investment. I have no idea how the relative efficiency would pan out for a fully electric combine, but I am sure that there are companies working on it.

All the best,

Peter

 

[MossRoad]

For a moving vehicle, there is a big weight reduction switching from lead acid to lithium batteries, and a total elimination of battery maintenance. For a forklift, or many tractor applications that may not be a win, but for other uses, it is.

I could easily get by with an electric tractor. I almost never run WOT for four, much less eight hours. Combining corn or soybeans, or racing against weather for hay is a whole different story. Different strokes for different folks.

A friend who was an early, early electric vehicle inventor and successful EV racer, holding several world records, worked out how to get an 80% charge in 20 minutes. The down side s that you basically have to be at a substation (500V at 3-400A). Could you do a combine like that? Yes, but there would be a nonzero infrastructure investment.

All the best,

Peter

I also rarely run for more than 4 hours at a time, but I almost always run at full throttle. Mowing, harvesting firewood, loader work, snow plowing, all at full throttle. I'm pretty sure I could get 90-95% of my homeowner/estate tasks done before I ran out of battery power. But I'm not gonna be the guinea pig. I did that with Betamax.

 

[ponytug]

Me either. I have my lifetime tractor.

If I was starting out again, maybe. I would certainly consider it. BTDT with buying cutting edge items that became "old" in a matter of months, and I have become prone to over thinking purchases as a result. (Guilty of buying an early PC clone that halved in price a couple of months after buying, and of buying a Mac clone shortly before Apple pulled the licenses for clones. Both worked great, but...)

What is "Betamax"?

All the best,

Peter

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I just picked up 15 gallons of tractor diesel yesterday. 15.855 gallons at $4.70/gallon = $73.25. That's about 30 hours of full throttle rotary mowing. Small tractor energy costs are not that high. I can see a battery being adequate, but I'm not convinced that the cost is justified.

 

[California]

Small tractor energy costs are not that high. I can see a battery being adequate, but I'm not convinced that the cost is justified.

The first buyers won't care about cost. Like those who bought Tesla's first model, the Roadster. Maybe the same folks. Those who enjoy 'bleeding edge' technology and can afford it.

I can see this being suitable for greenhouse work, or mucking out stalls at a horse boarding/riding arena where an unobtrusive tractor will be less distraction to the weekend riders. Maybe a you-pick tourist farm, or at a high-end resort or country club where the gardeners are supposed to be unobtrusive.

Until the cost comes way down this will be a specialty product.

 

[Fxfymn413]

They are way along on developing battery powered semi-trucks, so something like a tractor is not that big of a stretch. My bet is JD has engineers working on it right now. Things like a modular battery pack that could be swapped out in the field would improve range and operating time while the spare is charged using solar or wind if wired service is not available.

I'd love to be able to go back to my grandfather's time when gasoline was replacing horses and read all of the nay. or is that neigh, saying about gasoline powered vehicles and their reliability compared to a horse.

Technology changes and there are always early adaptors who take the hit of figuring out what will work or not work for the rest of us and this will not be any different. And besides hydrocarbon fuels are not inexhaustible so somebody better figure out what we are going to do next.

 

[Jstpssng]

They are way along on developing battery powered semi-trucks, so something like a tractor is not that big of a stretch. My bet is JD has engineers working on it right now. Things like a modular battery pack that could be swapped out in the field would improve range and operating time while the spare is charged using solar or wind if wired service is not available.

I'd love to be able to go back to my grandfather's time when gasoline was replacing horses and read all of the nay. or is that neigh, saying about gasoline powered vehicles and their reliability compared to a horse.

Technology changes and there are always early adaptors who take the hit of figuring out what will work or not work for the rest of us and this will not be any different. And besides hydrocarbon fuels are not inexhaustible so somebody better figure out what we are going to do next.

The difference though is that your Grandfather was free to continue using his horse... as my grandfather did until well after WWII.
There wasn't a powerful faction of people who wanted them outlawed, or a president who ran on the platform of getting rid of them.
It just got to where it was more economically feasible to use an engine. Many of us today aren't opposed to EVs; as I mentioned several times already, I've been interested in them since before the turn of the century when Mother Earth News ran an article on how to convert a conventional auto to electric. Changing from what I have would take an outlay of cash which I'm not willing to make until they are a lot more proven than they are now. It will be interesting to see how they'll stand up to our salt, as well as spring condition roads like we have now.

As of today nobody even makes a pickup which would be practical for the way that I need to use it.

 

[Fixastuff]

The difference though is that your Grandfather was free to continue using his horse... as my grandfather did until well after WWII.
There wasn't a powerful faction of people who wanted them outlawed, or a president who ran on the platform of getting rid of them.

I think you're getting tractors confused with automobiles...

 

[aczlan]

Here's a study that showed that Teslas lose about 10% of their battery capacity after 160k miles. At an average of 35 mph that's about 4500 hours. Which would be a lot for a tractor that's not used all day every day. By that time a fossil fuel tractor has a good chance of needing some major maintenance like a clutch or cylinder head or engine rebuild.

https://electrek.co/2018/04/14/tesla-battery-degradation-data/

A lot depends on the software that controls the battery charging and discharging. If it's dumb and lets the batteries get fully or over charged or totally depleted they won't last as long.

It's worth noting that they have since changed battery technologies and reportedly improved the battery management to the point where they now supposed to only be down a couple percent after 200,000 miles.
But as you say that depends on how well the owner has taken care of it.


Aaron Z