New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough

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   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #61  
A couple of REALITIES. Solar is really a feel good thing. If the Feds did not REQUIRE that the solar power you dump back Into the grid was paid back to you at the rate you pay for it

The feds do not require that. It's up to the states. And while there may be one or two states that still do that, in the rest the utility pays much less for power you put back into their system. In CA it's on the order of a cent or two per KWH while they're charging 25-35 cents per KWH for power to you.

The goal for most people here is to either offset their use entirely or provide enough power to get their use down to the lowest threshold. Adding more panels than what it takes to zero out your use on an annual basis does not pay. But generating power for less than the 25 cents base rate does.
 
   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #62  
This is one of the best parts - going forward we'll need less infrastructure, not more. As more homes and offices move to onsite solar generation, the need to have some giant power plant shooting electricity down powerlines for mile after mile will decrease. I fully expect in my lifetime to require no grid-tied electricity whatsoever at my home except for as an emergency backup. People are doing it already and it's only picking up steam as solar gets cheaper and cheaper.
I'm all in favor of small grid power generation. It's much more reliable and can weather storms so much better.
 
   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #63  
So, you have the 'electric tractor' out in the orchard or in a field and the battery is almost kaput, how do you 'exchange the battery in the field? Inquiring minds want to know? Maybe drive out with a petroleum fueled tractor with forks and do it?
You start by firing the incompetent operator who ignored the battery fuel gauge. Same as you would do if ran out of diesel or gasoline. Incompetent for creating more work for others.
 
   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #64  
@Slowpoke Slim, a few years back, I believed as you do - that the EV revolution is a myth and that the pollution just moves from one type to another. I still do but with less passion.

I started traveling to China in 2010. Frankly the air quality there sucked in all the major cities I visited. I was back in China in 2016, 2017, and 2018. I could not believe what the Chinese had accomplished in such a short time.

Leading the way was their development of EV. At the same time, they put the fixed pollution controls on their coal fired power plants. They restricted driving in the cities. In each of the later years, I actually saw the sun on a sunny day. Their pollution issues were significantly reduced....

... I saw what the Chinese achieved in a short time. Could LA, NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, other big cities... do the same if they push for EV.

What about the rest of us? I'm not sure. I just know it is coming and it will not be stopped. CA. OR, WA they (the people) want it. The West coast often sets the agenda. A day will come when all that will be at the dealer will be EVs of some ilk. That day will be by the end of this decade if the plans of many manufactures come to fruition. Prediction is that by 2035, 50% of all vehicles on the highways will be EV. Could be BS. Might just be reality.

"...CA, OR, WA (the people) want it..." "The people" do not want it. I'm in WA, and this state's been hijacked by radical politicians located in the Puget Sound area who control the entire state. Restricting driving in the cities except for those who submit to the state's dictate of using an EV? Sorry, but I can't agree with anyone who approves of a government entity taking away the right of individuals to use their legally-owned property, just because they want to force an agenda down our throats.

What and how the Chinese accomplish is by taking away freedoms and punishing those who don't obey. In my opinion, following the Chinese Communist Party's methods of controlling a society is not a model any freedom-loving American should admire or aspire to adopt.

I'm not against EV if people freely adopt it, but I AM against a government taking away the freedoms of law-abiding citizens to use their non-EV vehicles (or whatever legally-owned property they have).
 
   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #65  
The feds do not require that. It's up to the states. And while there may be one or two states that still do that, in the rest the utility pays much less for power you put back into their system. In CA it's on the order of a cent or two per KWH while they're charging 25-35 cents per KWH for power to you.
There is a Federal requirement but there are caveats and workarounds. Alabama Power has a ruling from the PSC allowing a hefty monthly "connect fee" for PV systems based on size, no matter how much is produced. The "theory" here is that a PV user is not paying "fair share" for maintaining the electric power grid that they are not using. Further, Alabama law states one may not live in a dwelling without public utilities.

Alabama also levies a $200/year fee on EVs "in lieu of fuel taxes". Problem is that is the equivalent of 21,000 miles/year at 30 MPG.

The Federal grid-tie regulation states the utility does not have to pay more for your PV power than its own incremental cost of generation. If your PV kWh only saves 1.5¢ in fuel then that is all they have to pay for your power.
 
   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #66  
The feds do not require that. It's up to the states. And while there may be one or two states that still do that, in the rest the utility pays much less for power you put back into their system. In CA it's on the order of a cent or two per KWH while they're charging 25-35 cents per KWH for power to you.

The goal for most people here is to either offset their use entirely or provide enough power to get their use down to the lowest threshold. Adding more panels than what it takes to zero out your use on an annual basis does not pay. But generating power for less than the 25 cents base rate does.
I'd say your biggest reality is where your next glass of water will come from...........
 
   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #67  
10 hr run time with a 5 hr recharge?

I'd say it isn't "ready"
For running the battery out of juice in the field vs running out of
diesel is simple just run to the barn and grab a couple gallons of
diesel and back to the tractor no problem but then you look at the
dead batteries no hoist out in the field. It might take 30 minutes
to get some fuel in the tractor but 5 hours to recharge the battery??
How much is the recharging system going to cost? battery price??
how long will the battery last?? diesel engines last a very long time. Also if you are pulling a plow that will take a lot of juice and batteries will not last any whare near 10 hours of running. A full tank of diesel will last more than a day at least
IMHO electric tractors will have to drastically improve before they
can even consider replacing a diesel tractor. With the weight of
the batteries and electric motors and tractor you better be sure the
ground is DRY OR SINK!

willy
Modern batteries are lithium, not lead. And at least on my tractor I have at filled the tires to add weight. Not too worried about lithium batteries making it too heavy.

no question refueling is easier than a battery swap. Best not to run out.

10 hours may or may not be enough time for a given use. There’s essentially no power used at idle, so it could easily be a very long day’s work. Or not nearly enough depending on the use.

lots of comments that it won’t meet certain needs. It’s one tractor. I wouldn’t look at a 50hp diesel tractor and dismiss it because it isn’t big enough to drag a 30 row planter. It isn’t meant to. If someone buys a tool not suited to the job, that’s on him not the manufacturer. Has nothing to do with electric vs diesel.

I love my diesel tractor but once there is an equivalent in electric I’ll strongly consider it if I can get enough money out of the diesel. Diesel torque has nothing on electric.
Maintenance is next to nothing on a modern electric vehicle- these aren’t lead-acid golf carts or forklifts from the 70’s. Minimal noise. Can (and do) make my own electricity.

Right now, electric tractors are for people who want to be on the vanguard, niche uses, and hobbyists. Soon enough internal combustion will be for hobbyists. Electric is just easier in every way. Nobody trying to earn a living is going to want something that has the maintenance downtime of a diesel tractor if there are better alternatives. It’s just like cordless power tools: once the technology met the need better than the alternative, people switched.
 
   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #68  
I believe this has a lot less to do with pollution than it has to do with government control. Right now it is impossible to lock people down and keep them essentially imprisoned in their homes. They found this out with the recent scamdenic. If all the major population centers (cities) were 100% electric as is the goal there is little or nothing you could do to leave them or even survive a deep freeze with the power being off. In the hotter climates the suffering could be almost as bad with heat waves. Electric power can be controlled very selectively vs. municipal gas or individual oil deliveries and when the switch is thrown the power is off unlike a full tank of oil or propane...
If the "government" wanted to control the population by shutting off their access to energy, they could just as easily stop refining oil or propane. Are you capable of manufacturing your own when your full tank runs out? Now, if you're charging your batteries with solar...

Have you heard the latest news about your "scamdenic" in India? They've got bodies piling up so fast they're running out of places to burn them. What a hoax, right?
 
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   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #69  
The feds do not require that. It's up to the states. And while there may be one or two states that still do that, in the rest the utility pays much less for power you put back into their system. In CA it's on the order of a cent or two per KWH while they're charging 25-35 cents per KWH for power to you.

The goal for most people here is to either offset their use entirely or provide enough power to get their use down to the lowest threshold. Adding more panels than what it takes to zero out your use on an annual basis does not pay. But generating power for less than the 25 cents base rate does.
In NY the power company pays you for anything you create over what you use once per year. Generally in March but you can change it to another month 1 time with special paperwork. In NY the rate you are paid is the current wholesale rate and they don't "pay" this, it is given as a credit on my bill. My system creates ~100% of what I use or a bit less. My goal when I got is was not to create more than I need. As you say, there is no money in it. In addition to this I have a fee for the net metered connection, but in NY that is currently about $18 a month.
 
   / New Tractor Company as if we didn't have enough #70  
In a recent interview with RJ Straubel of Redwood Materials, former employee of Tesla turned battery recycler, he acknowledged that at the present rate of growth of EVs in about 5 years we will be maxed out on the demand vs the materials available for current battery technology. The cost of the "rare earth" components is also skyrocketing making the battery the most expensive part of the vehicle, on top of that most of the mining is done, you guessed it, in China and not in an a environmentally sensitive way. Not sure as a country we are placing the right amount of thought into the EV world and the unintended consequences, we will find out soon enough. God bless us.
 
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