Is AB-1346 The Beginning To The End Of The GARDEN TRACTOR?

[grsthegreat]

35 years ago anyone who brought a cordless drill motor onto a jobsite was scoffed at.

Raise your hand now if you DONT keep a battery operated portable power tool in your arsenal.

battery drill is way different that car. and no one tried to pass regulation that you HAD to have a battery drill.

 

[gtunney]

As a Tesla owner, I would buy this tractor tomorrow if it was available. I'm going to keep an eye on this brand through Google Alerts. Thank you for posting.

If someone made a conversion kit for my X585, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Just swapping out the engine for an electric motor would be a huge plus and I think relatively simple. Wish I were an electrically smart guy as I would try to design my own solution.

 

[LouNY]

It's all smoke mirrors and bull pucky.
And where some of these so called "facts" and numbers come from, who knows.

 

[kenmbz]

I try to use battery where I can. But they can't cut down 80 foot trees, prune 700' of driveway etc., yet.
I also see electricity going up $ every year.
I don't see anything being done about the massive increase in human population which leads to the extra pollution.

 

[JWR]

When and if anything does get banned, and nothing has been decided yet, you’re free to use existing equipment as long as you want.

Somehow, if anyone is left willing to live in CA, I expect there will be an awful lot of smuggling across the CA border, clandestine ownership, etc. Reminds me of prohibition. I foresee the same outcome. A look-alike for Al Capone will be peddling 25hp and below diesel and gas machines from the back of camouflaged trailer trucks... small caves dug in the hillside to hide your Kubotas. Stashes of fuel in dumpster replicas...
This crap is so far beyond insane it should be labeled with skull and cross bones.

 

[JWR]

Just maybe, we all need to care about our grandchildrens world. I love my tractor and mowers. I will hate to give them up but if it means they will not live in a lessor world because we became dependent on a toxic chemical - so be it…

PURE BS. The real danger is the fools elected to office, not our lawn tools. ABSURD.

 

[Richard001]

Yesterday on a trip to my local Home Depot, I saw this:

And here is HD price:

But wait, there's more:
Equipped with a variable-speed, heavy-duty 2-blade serrated steel auger, iON's powerful 4000-Watt brushless motor effortlessly clears a path 24 in. W and 17.5 in. D in a single pass.

4000 watts is equivalent to 5.364088 horse power

WARRANTY COVERAGE Snow Joe® + Sun Joe® warrant new products for two years from the date of purchase. Batteries are covered in full for 90-days from the date of purchase.

Equipped with powerful 100-Volt 5.0 Ah batteries featuring exclusive ECOSHARP technology provides up to 25 minutes of runtime on a single charge - clears up to 3215 sq ft of 3" snow

It comes with the two batteries and one, single battery charger. They claim that it takes 100 minutes to recharge one battery. So if your driveway needs more than 25 minutes of light snow throwing, you will have to wait for three hours the get both batteries charged again.

Snow Joe offers a battery + charger to purchase separately.
New Snow Joe + Sun Joe 100-Volt iONPRO Starter Kit | 5.0 Amp Battery | Rapid Charger $388.00

The price tag added up rather quickly.
Thrower $1,298.00 plus Rapid Charger $388.00 = $1686.00 plus tax.

But on the other hand, here is a gas powered 24" thrower:

Priced at: $1,199.00

So price wise, not as much difference as I first thought.

 

[tomplum]

Thank goodness that my son and I did a complete frame off restoration of our E-15 General Electric Electrak 36 volt garden tractor. We’re Good to Go!

First time I've heard from someone who actually owns one of these. Post a thread in the L&G section and tell us about it!

 

[TractorTYMe]

We need to cut all carrier power lines into CA. Let them cook in their own fat for unwise choices. They can live and eat lithium from China.

 

[JWR]

Yesterday on a trip to my local Home Depot, I saw this:

But wait, there's more:
Equipped with a variable-speed, heavy-duty 2-blade serrated steel auger, iON's powerful 4000-Watt brushless motor effortlessly clears a path 24 in. W and 17.5 in. D in a single pass.

4000 watts is equivalent to

So price wise, not as much difference as I first thought.

Yeah... 4KW divided by 100 volts = 40 amps. So a 5 amp-hour battery would last 5/40= .125 hrs. If you had two such batteries involved that would make it 0.25 hrs = 15 minutes max and that's if you can extract every single ounce of energy out of the batteries, which you can't.

I think it is obvious they will be to real snowblowers as cordless leaf blowers are to real gas ones. Junk. Pitiful. Expensive. Sick jokes. Just right for Kalifornicators.

 

[Bob Rooks]

Yeah... 4KW divided by 100 volts = 40 amps. So a 5 amp-hour battery would last 5/40= .125 hrs. If you had two such batteries involved that would make it 0.25 hrs = 15 minutes max and that's if you can extract every single ounce of energy out of the batteries, which you can't.

I think it is obvious they will be to real snowblowers as cordless leaf blowers are to real gas ones. Junk. Pitiful. Expensive. Sick jokes. Just right for Kalifornicators.

It's extremely ignorant to think that anyone would use cordless equipment to maintain a five acre spread. Cordless equipment is intended for the postage stamp sized city and suburban lots, for which they are totally adequate.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

Well no matter what each of us thinks the one thing for sure is change is inevitable.
To argue this is like beating our heads against a brick wall (and not one of those smooth painted ones I mean the rough unfinished kind)

- I see all levels of gov't in N.A. pushing for lower emissions
- I see all car companies coming out with more and more electric options
- I see trades people moving away from corded tools to battery more and more every year
- I see the U.S. President taking steps to higher energy prices to lower consumption even though statements made to the contrary including closing down coal / oil pipelines / etc....
- I even see my beloved Stihl dealership where I get all my chainsaw work and supplies from having now maybe 20% of their display space for battery tools...

So I can deny, pray, and even stick my head in the sand but the signs are clearly out their.

I will never now buy a 25hp and under piece of equipment that doesnt have emmision stuff on it unless I am prepared for it to be worth very little (or worse almost worthless if deemed illegal to use) in the not too distant future. A lawn mower for maybe $400 I am prepared to loose out on but nothing worth thousands or more.


Now I must go to my storage shed and try and find my 50 mile long extension cord. You know the black one that is 2 gauge copper wire in it mined from the new open pit mine built at the end of my road. You know the one right next door to the smelter plant that has the 4 big stacks processing the ore. I am heading to the cottage for a week and don't think the battery range on my pickup is enough during this cold snap with my flat deck in tow.

 

[Bob Rooks]

I am heading to the cottage for a week and don't think the battery range on my pickup is enough during this cold snap with my flat deck in tow.

The driving range on EV's is approximately the same as gas powered vehicles, with a full charge equivalent to a full tank of gas. EV's also inform you of how many more miles you can go with your current operating methods, and show you where your closest charging station is.

 

[LouNY]

The driving range on EV's is approximately the same as gas powered vehicles, with a full charge equivalent to a full tank of gas. EV's also inform you of how many more miles you can go with your current operating methods, and show you where your closest charging station is.

Unless it's winter and cold and snowy and not driving in a densly populated area with charging stations,
then it laughs and say's guess what your ****

 

[PuffyC]

It's extremely ignorant to think that anyone would use cordless equipment to maintain a five acre spread. Cordless equipment is intended for the postage stamp sized city and suburban lots, for which they are totally adequate.

I may be doing it wrong but I've been maintaining 5-7 acres within a much larger place for years and I use all kinds of battery powered stuff. Battery leaf blower, battery trimmers, battery chainsaw, battery polesaw, battery hedge trimmers - they all work great. You know how some people utterly refuse to go electric? That's me thinking about going back to gas. After using the battery powered stuff for so long I might just give up on doing yard work altogether if it meant I had to go back to the nightmare of messing with gas.

All that's left is a gas chainsaw but it mostly just collects dust now that I have the battery saw, and I still need gas for mowing. As soon as there's a battery powered ZTR that's comparable to gas I'll buy one and as far as I'm concerned that day can't come soon enough. For the record, I'm not a fan of electrics because I'm some hippie tree hugger nut who thinks they're saving the planet - I have no political issues with gas lawn equipment. I'm a fan of electrics because they're cheaper to run and they make my life easier. By a lot.

 

[kenmbz]

I have a battery powered pole saw and weed wacker.
But I have dozens of these 70-100 foot tall dead ash.
I have 2 gas chainsaws. One for the big stuff, one for the medium stuff.
Pole saw for branches and small stuff.

That is a 24" bar in the picture. This is not one of the bigger Ash trees, just a complex one because of lean.

I have a gas brushcutter and hedge trimmer. That couple of hundred sq feet around this tree was cleared with the gas brush cutter. Battery trimmer would never have the capability.
I use the battery tools as much as possible, but they have very strict limits, though they get better every year or so.
Would love an electric chain saw that could do all this, and last 3-4 hours on 2 batteries.

 

[Bob Rooks]

Unless it's winter and cold and snowy and not driving in a densly populated area with charging stations,
then it laughs and say's guess what your ****

Hahaha. For some part, EV's are smarter than you are, and they'll tell you what you can and can't get away with. You just have to be honest with it. Of course you can always tell it to F-off and go your own way, but don't say you weren't warned. That's a whole lot more than a gas guzzler will do.

 

[LouNY]

But my gas guzzler can and will get there and back comfortably and safely.

 

[JWR]

I have a battery powered pole saw and weed wacker.
But I have dozens of these 70-100 foot tall dead ash.
I have 2 gas chainsaws. One for the big stuff, one for the medium stuff.
Pole saw for branches and small stuff.

That is a 24" bar in the picture. This is not one of the bigger Ash trees, just a complex one because of lean. ...

I have a gas brushcutter and hedge trimmer. That couple of hundred sq feet around this tree was cleared with the gas brush cutter. Battery trimmer would never have the capability.
I use the battery tools as much as possible, but they have very strict limits, though they get better every year or so.
Would love an electric chain saw that could do all this, and last 3-4 hours on 2 batteries.

I assume PA has had all the ash trees killed by the borer as we have in WV? I've had over 100 trees down on my 100 acre farm, many on fences. Constant job to try to keep them out of areas cut for hay, etc. This has continued for several years already. I'm able to move most to burn piles and disposal spots using a grapple on my FEL.

 

[GeneV]

It's extremely ignorant to think that anyone would use cordless equipment to maintain a five acre spread. Cordless equipment is intended for the postage stamp sized city and suburban lots, for which they are totally adequate.

Depends on what equipment. Blowers yeh, total joke. But I've got a B&D cordless hedge trimmer and string trimmer/edger that share a battery. I do a lot with them on 1 charge on my 2.6 acres. The hedge trimmer for instance, I could square up the tall grass and cattails around the pond, trim the trees around it, square up the grass/cattails on the paths on the other side of the pond, square up the trees leading up to the back of the house, and still have juice to hit the hedges up front.

To give you an idea of how much work that is, I'm talking about this:




With the path around the pond being like this:




As for the string trimmer, I could edge by my driveway, trim any areas my mower can't get into, and I still have 2 of 3 bars still showing on my battery. When I first got them, I was actually very pleasantly surprised how long the battery will go on these tools. It's a 40v battery.