Tractor News Viable Electric Tractor?

[Warpspeed]

Lithium iron batteries are pretty good. Almost zero loss of charge over time sitting around doing nothing, and the power recovered is about 99% of what you put into it.

There are some significant down sides though.
A 22Kwh Lithium iron battery costs about 15.4K in Australian dollars right now. A rough guess would be about 10K US dollars. That is just the bare basic battery itself. No motor, no control system, no charger.
They don't like freezing temperatures, and can be damaged if you try charging them below freezing.
Over charging, or over discharging also causes permanent damage, so one little accident or oversight and your very expensive lithium battery is trash.

I am off grid in the suburbs with a 100v lithium battery, and could not be happier. But an electric car (or tractor) is a pretty expensive alternative.

 

[rScotty]

The Luddites are coming out in force again.

A commercially viable electric tractor will be here, hopefully within my lifetime.

John Deere, Cat, and FCA are all working on them. Tesla is making a profit, and GM is reconfiguring the Hamtramck plant for electric car and truck production. Ford has announced plans to produce electric pickups.

Also, remember, that $10k solar panel will power your house when it痴 not charging your tractor battery.

Technology moves on and changes our lives, mostly for the positive, bet there are always naysayers who want to resist change.

Sometimes they get left behind and fade into the past.

Well said. Electric is the direction we are moving. It's not perfect, but using the electric grid to transport power is a better solution than trucking it. Even if we burn coal to produce electricity, at least that can be done where the coal is mined instead of trucking it to each house. But the real advantage is that electricity is easy to produce at home as well. Getting set up still has downsides and it isn't pollution free. But it is a better overall solution than what we are doing now.

And things begin to look even better when we start to do more things. That same solar panel can make electricity at home for free to run a car, tractor, lights, cooking, shop tools, and heat&cool the house.... the savings begin to compound themselves. And of course electrical power has a lot of appeal to the independent do-it-yourself type, since it can be made at home, stored for free, and free from taxes.

With all that going for it, I sometimes wonder what it is about electrical power that makes the naysayers so angry. In reading through threads like this one, I can usually predict who will react negatively. But why do they care so much? And why is their resistance so predictable? Is it just because it represents change? Or because solar panels at home means loss of control? Loss of tax base? Or is it because electricity itself is hard for some to understand?

I am confused by the Naysayers. The very people I would expect to support solar & electrical energy are the biggest opponents. Why?
rScotty

 

[chim]

Well said. Electric is the direction we are moving. It's not perfect, but using the electric grid to transport power is a better solution than trucking it. Even if we burn coal to produce electricity, at least that can be done where the coal is mined instead of trucking it to each house. But the real advantage is that electricity is easy to produce at home as well. Getting set up still has downsides and it isn't pollution free. But it is a better overall solution than what we are doing now.

And things begin to look even better when we start to do more things. That same solar panel can make electricity at home for free to run a car, tractor, lights, cooking, shop tools, and heat&cool the house.... the savings begin to compound themselves. And of course electrical power has a lot of appeal to the independent do-it-yourself type, since it can be made at home, stored for free, and free from taxes.

With all that going for it, I sometimes wonder what it is about electrical power that makes the naysayers so angry. In reading through threads like this one, I can usually predict who will react negatively. But why do they care so much? And why is their resistance so predictable? Is it just because it represents change? Or because solar panels at home means loss of control? Loss of tax base? Or is it because electricity itself is hard for some to understand?

I am confused by the Naysayers. The very people I would expect to support solar & electrical energy are the biggest opponents. Why?
rScotty

Not quite certain myself. I live in an environment of licensed electricians and degreed engineers. We can't agree on the viability in either physical or financial aspects, so I don't believe it's a matter of not understanding electricity. Part of the discussion that isn't generally known is how much of our tax money is used to prop up the unproven industry. Another is how much burden is put on the conventional generation industry - they need to provide generation capacity equal to the wind and solar capacity being added to the grid. Then they need to pay a premium rate to the wind & solar guys for power. So what's the whole point?

Yes, yes, I know. When the horseless carriage was introduced all the dumb hayseeds thought they were a flop. I'm in the hayseed camp on this one

 

[finn1]

Not quite certain myself. I live in an environment of licensed electricians and degreed engineers. We can't agree on the viability in either physical or financial aspects, so I don't believe it's a matter of not understanding electricity. Part of the discussion that isn't generally known is how much of our tax money is used to prop up the unproven industry. Another is how much burden is put on the conventional generation industry - they need to provide generation capacity equal to the wind and solar capacity being added to the grid. Then they need to pay a premium rate to the wind & solar guys for power. So what's the whole point?

Yes, yes, I know. When the horseless carriage was introduced all the dumb hayseeds thought they were a flop. I'm in the hayseed camp on this one

I don’t get the argument against government supporting “unproven” technologies. I see that support as a continuation of support for new technologies that goes back generations. Examples would include the land grants that allowed the development of the trans continental railroad, the nuclear energy grants through the Department of Energy even today, highway funding, especially the development of the interstate highway system, medical and drug research... the list goes on.

 

[chim]

I don稚 get the argument against government supporting ?*?nproven technologies. I see that support as a continuation of support for new technologies that goes back generations. Examples would include the land grants that allowed the development of the trans continental railroad, the nuclear energy grants through the Department of Energy even today, highway funding, especially the development of the interstate highway system, medical and drug research... the list goes on.

In most cases, anything that the government is involved in is much better done by private enterprise. We spend billions of dollars on bombers that can't fly. How long were we tinkering around with space travel when Elon Musk came up with a rocket he landed and re-used?

The railroad example is interesting. Trains were a proven method of transportation before the land grants. The land grants didn't cost the taxpayers very much because the land was taken away from the Native Americans and given to a few rich influential white guys. The current problem with railroads now is that have been socialized. Users' fees don't pay for the costs of operating them.

Nuclear doesn't impress someone who receives evacuation instructions annually from the infamous TMI.

The other examples, for the most part, do have some funding by those with skin in the game such as the 58.7 cents per gallon fuel tax here in PA.

 

[Tractorable]

Here’s a recent interesting video from Engineering Explained about how electric vehicles are viable in some situations but the combustion engine still has a long life ahead of it.


Why Gas Engines Are Far From Dead - Biggest EV Problems - YouTube

 

[finn1]

Interesting, but flawed perspective. The first successful US manned Space began in 1961, if I recall correctly, a full ten years before Elon Musk was born. The concept of the Internet was developed at the University of Illinois, not some tech company. Nuclear energy is a vital component of the modern submarine, another government program. The TVA and all the hydro projects in the West were all government projects.

Very few companies spend more than a few percent of their revenue on R&D, and what is spent is paid for by tax credits and, often, matching government grants.

Private companies, with few exceptions just don’t invent new technology on their own. Tax credits and grants are an integral part of the process.

Private companies excell at commercializing technology, but that’s a downstream effort.

Not sure how subsidizing highway construction with a Federal tax is any different, in the end, than subsidizing electric vehicle production.

 

[chim]

Interesting, but flawed perspective. The first successful US manned Space began in 1961, if I recall correctly, a full ten years before Elon Musk was born. ....................................

With a head start like that, how many rockets have they re-used?

 

[buickanddeere]

I would say that chim has one of the most accurate assessments of the situation here on this board .
There are too many dreamers out there who have been watching Star Trek and think the tech is real.
No matter how much research and expenditure . Some of these electric dreams are just as viable as making water run uphill naturally on it’s own against gravity .
The greenies can’t or won’t grasp the fact that all the wind and solar has to be backed up with fossil power .

 

[buickanddeere]

An electric tractor does not have enough room for enough battery capacity to operate long enough between charges . For more than 1-2 hours of operation at full power .
Recharge time will be 8-16 hours as most rural farms are limited to a 200 or 400 amp 120/240V electrical service . No Tesla Super Chargers?
Only the wealthy or a one track minded enviro whacko would spend that kind of money for that little performance .