First electric tractor ride

[5030]

The tractor industry is all going this way soon. California is banning all gas and diesel powered garden equipment over the next 10 -15 years and the rest of North America won't be far behind. They are even banning all gas powered chain saws, weed whackers etc. My Kubota dealer told us that he knows that Kubota is working on electric tractors now. So it's coming.

A couple years back Kubota did a prototype electric self driving tractor that looked like a large Kidney bean.

It may all be coming but won't be in my lifetime so I don't get concerned about it one way or another. Future generations can deal with it, not me. I'll stick with my diesel powered tractors and gas powered cars thank you.

 

[Citydude]

Small potatoes compared to the 'Big 3'...

Yes sir! The P&H was the largest shovel we had. The draglines were in mines south of us.

 

[DutchInNZ]

Guaranteed for 10 years..... What a nonsense. Because they lose capacity with every discharge, batteries get guaranteed for the number of times they are discharged/charged, not for the time they physically exist. Bet, when you look in the sales contract, you will find a clause stating such charge limit in the same kind of wording as with cars: "guarantee up to 50.000 miles or 2 years, whichever comes first."

 

[Monster5601]

Guaranteed for 10 years..... What a nonsense. Because they lose capacity with every discharge, batteries get guaranteed for the number of times they are discharged/charged, not for the time they physically exist. Bet, when you look in the sales contract, you will find a clause stating such charge limit in the same kind of wording as with cars: "guarantee up to 50.000 miles or 2 years, whichever comes first."

Even Telsa, likely the leader in battery technologies, will not publish battery life, recharging cycle life, or diminishing capacity curves. Mankind has been messing with electric propulsion since the early 1900s or something like that. Every attempt has been successful until it comes time to address battery issues. Until technology finds better battery chemistry or otherwise a better method to store energy, we will continue to bump into the same roadblocks. I've seen nothing on the horizon that aims to fix this, yet.

A newer issue that we were recently introduced to is replacement battery cost and availability. I believe it was a Florida family that bought a used Ford EV and within 6 months, discovered the battery pack needed replacement. They were told the battery pack was $15,000.00 plus labor and also told there were no battery packs available. After paying $16,000.00 for the EV, the dealer offered them $50.00 for the car. I've not heard anything more about this but I hope the family found a workable solution.

There are some significant growing pains the EV industry, regardless of brand, need to solve. I would like to see some type of battery pack standards come about and guarantees that replacement batteries are made available. Also, when my wife and I looked at replacing her car with a Telsa, we discovered we could only buy it and could not lease it in Michigan. Because of battery issues, I will not buy an EV but will lease one for a period not exceeding the manufactures bumper to bumper warranty period.

 

[stevem5215]

Well, if Kia/Hyundai offer a 10 year warranty on the battery that will get them ahead of everyone elses EV battery powered things. People will flock to them. After 10 years they'd be scrap though.

 

[5030]

I will say I'm impressed with the startup company 'Zero' and their concept of swappable batteries in a 'filling station' like setting where you drive in a bay, the machine aligns the vehicle over a special pad, the used battery comes out and a newly charged one goes in and the one that came out is inspected for issues and/or recharged for another customer.

That totally eliminates the long recharge wait time and makes it comparable to filling a ICE vehicle at a filling station. The big downfall with all of the electric cars will be recharge times at home or on the road.

People today and in the future won't want to be parked at a charger in some parking lot for an hour or more, won't happen.

I'd buy a Zero myself, great concept.

The other problem I see with electric cars is like tractors (but not ICE vehicles is), there is no across the board standardization of either components or methods of charging.

Eventually, that will bit them in the butt.

 

[ultrarunner]

View attachment 760052
Seems to be in turbo charge mode.

The snowball from the west coast is rolling east...

Now if battery tech would have a breakthrough like LED for lighting that would really be something.

If this really happens my trailer hitch might do double duty towing a power module... it can take less than a minute to hitch up.

 

[WranglerX]

Wonder what hazardous materials disposal fees are going to be on all the wonderful 'lectric vehicle batteries in future? Wonder if its factored in purchase price of tractor....

 

[cqaigy2]

Wonder what hazardous materials disposal fees are going to be on all the wonderful 'lectric vehicle batteries in future? Wonder if its factored in purchase price of tractor....

Why limit that to EVs? It should be factored in everything we consume, up front, instead of letting become something like a superfund cleanup thing and having the tax payers pick up the tab.

 

[stso9d]

Salesman came buy the dealership yesterday peddling a Solectrac (spl?) tractor. The owner jumped on and rode it around for awhile. He said it was pretty smooth running, quiet and responsive. The salesman stated that this tractor would save over $12,000 in fuel costs over a similar diesel powered machine in a 10 yr period. The battery was good for that long and I asked about a battery purchase price. He didn't know the answer to that one and kept saying "it's guaranteed for 10 yrs. What tractor company do you know of that guarantees their engine for that long"?
At any rate, the tractor was good for 3-6 hrs on a charge and would charge in 8 hrs on a 220 circuit. It weighed similar to a fueled tractor of that size at 2300 lbs.
MSRP price was $28,000. Came with ags on it. Industrial and turfs were about $1500 more and a loader was about $4600.

In my opinion, It has its place for light use like on a horse farm of small garden or short driveway. If your climate gets below freezing in the winter, you have to heat up the battery with a blanket for it to take a charge. It is a lithium/iron battery that itself must be at 32*
My overall impression was that it was nice for what it was and has its place for someone.
I wouldn't buy it to save the planet as some believe electrics will but I guess its main thrust is towards convenience.
I don't think it would like pulling a 2000 lb log behind it for long or plowing out a 1000 foot driveway with 15" of snow. There is no front pto mount for it as yet..
cet-electric-tractor

If I were to purchase a new machine, I would definitely buy one. The points made by MossRoad alone would sell me. As long as it uses smart technology to safely keep the battery in a ready state without wrecking my monthly bill. Obviously, a medium to large business would have several reasons opt out. Science has to work on a way to clean all the crud out of the atmosphere we are dumping. If that is even possible. Anyone that has children or grand children either realizes this or ignores it.