Electric Tractor

[the old grind]

Diesel-electrics (modern trains) are also about covering a range of driving wheel rpm (say 60:1) driven by an engine with an operating rpm range much closer to 2.5:1. Diesel engine, generator, axle motors are discreet components and serviced separately for serviceability as well as daily use. There's no clutches or separating an engine & transmission to replace a throw-out bearing, no driveshafts, no double-cardan u-joints required ...

Electric vehicles that add an IC engine, and whose batteries (got golf cart?) may not last as long (ok, NiMH then, got laptop?) as a seriously neglected diesel? So much for 'simpler is better'.

I'm with /pine in that portable energy still seems most practical o'all when carried onboard in liquid form for steady HD power output. That diesels are endemic from < 1L to > 10L displacement in tractors makes me wonder which vehicles segment will be the first to be taken over by electric or hybrid-electric ...

Oh wait, peanut-whistle cars are already here. Sorry to darken. Proceed as dictated by the guys with keyboards, condos, and boating shoes.

 

[ptsg]

Fully electric Swiss tractor is now a reality - Agriland.ie

 

[groundcover]

Volvo CE goes electric on smaller machines

 

[MossRoad]

Diesel-electrics (modern trains) are also about covering a range of driving wheel rpm (say 60:1) driven by an engine with an operating rpm range much closer to 2.5:1. Diesel engine, generator, axle motors are discreet components and serviced separately for serviceability as well as daily use. There's no clutches or separating an engine & transmission to replace a throw-out bearing, no driveshafts, no double-cardan u-joints required ...

Electric vehicles that add an IC engine, and whose batteries (got golf cart?) may not last as long (ok, NiMH then, got laptop?) as a seriously neglected diesel? So much for 'simpler is better'.

I'm with /pine in that portable energy still seems most practical o'all when carried onboard in liquid form for steady HD power output. That diesels are endemic from < 1L to > 10L displacement in tractors makes me wonder which vehicles segment will be the first to be taken over by electric or hybrid-electric ...

Oh wait, peanut-whistle cars are already here. Sorry to darken. Proceed as dictated by the guys with keyboards, condos, and boating shoes.

On a side-note, where's that roundhouse located in your avatar?

 

[MossRoad]

Elec-Trak - Wikipedia

 

[MossRoad]

$1523.95

 

[MossRoad]

 

[MossRoad]

 

[ruffdog]

Many factories are full of electric forklifts, crash wagons, scooters, and flat beds. Slow speed vehicles are easier to electrify than 80+mph ones. The road going vehicles do offer regenerative braking to charge the batteries. Back in the 60's, the military was experimenting with making a electric Cat D9.

 

[Tractorable]

Maybe electric tractors will be like electric chainsaws; great when you have a small job, but no replacement for a gas saw when you have a big job to do.

The problem is that battery technology (the ability to store energy) doesn’t improve at the same rate as other technologies, and a tank of diesel contains far more energy than a battery of equivalent weight.

Most of my tractor use is for quick jobs so an electric tractor would probably work for me, but I still need to bush hog five acres, whether an electric tractor has enough juice for sustained heavy PTO work remains to be seen.