
EUtility Electric Tractor is powered by a battery, not diesel - bornelsewhere
https://newatlas.com/environment/solectrac-eutility-electric-tractor/
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masonhensley
This doesn't cover all tractor uses of course, in the Texas Hill Country
(think around Austin) there's a pretty large cohort of people (non farmers)
that have enough land to necessitate a tractor or bob-cat that will only be
used a few times a month.

Imagine being able to "jettison" your battery pack from your classic car EV
conversion to plop into your tractor. I know the swappable battery packs
failed to take up with the Tesla model, but think about the secondary machines
that need occasional power - tractors, ride on lawn mowers, sentimental
classic/ hobby vehicle. Things that could be used in series (you won't be
moving your lawn and driving your classic car at the same time) that could
also benefit as being a power wall.

High class problem for sure, there's a big opportunity to leverage micro-grids
+ flexible power.

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notatoad
the main problem here is that a battery big enough to power a skid-steer would
be too big to lift by hand. and you couldn't use your skid-steer to lift it,
so you'd need a hoist or something.

but once you've got a hoist and are moving a big heavy pack between vehicles,
i wonder how much else could be in that transferrable pack. is a skid-steer
loader similar enough to a light-duty tractor or mini-hoe that you could
transfer the motor, hydraulic pump, and battery between different vehicles?

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lifeisstillgood
One that hits me as a caravan owner - I would love to take the drove chain of
my main car and just "plug" it into a motor home shell - in fact have the
shell be a two parter - a small runabout car and the extra.

the price of a motor home is basically the cost of a car and the cost of a
caravan - an electric motors home in this case would be basically half price

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myself248
How is this meaningfully different from an SUV towing a travel trailer?

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fyfy18
This is different to the US, but in Europe a lot of people have smaller cars
that aren't suitable for towing caravans. My family's only car can comfortable
fit four people, but I don't have a tow bar (and the manufacturer doesn't
recommend fitting one). And of course for most people it's much easier to
drive a motorhome or campervan, than to drive a car with a caravan.

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m463
I think a cool invention would be a (not-very) autonomous electric trailer.

Think of a full trailer - "a freight trailer supported by front and rear axles
and pulled by a drawbar"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_(vehicle)#Full_trailer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_\(vehicle\)#Full_trailer)

With something like this it could be "towed" by basically any kind of vehicle.
It doesn't really have to be pulled or pushed, it could take hints from the
vehicle in front. It might not even have to be attached, except maybe for
legal or historical reasons.

Another important point about rv-type travel is that you frequently need to be
self-contained. A large battery could do double duty as propulsion and living.
It would also be ideal for rooftop and/or awning solar panels. This setup
would allow all the comforts of civilization without being hooked up to the
grid, or even be near the grid. It could even pay for itself. Drive, then park
for a few days and you get free power to go another hop.

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URSpider94
People have definitely been tossing this idea around - basically your micro-
car could "tow" a 10-ton self-powered autonomous trailer that locks in on
guide signals from the rear and drafts your car. Much, much simpler than true
autonomous driving - you don't have to read road signs, watch out for cyclists
crossing against the light, figure out how to handle a 6-way uncontrolled
intersection, etc. You'd probably want some feedback to the lead vehicle to
modulate acceleration and braking to match the capabilities of the trailer.

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GlenTheMachine
I have a hard time seeing this get much traction. The use case for tractors is
that you don’t need them all the time, but often when you do need them you
need to use them almost continuously. Having to stop for a three-hour charge
is almost a non-starter.

This is a bigger issue for larger tractors — when you are harvesting, you just
can’t stop. You have to go nearly around the clock until you’re done. You
don’t normally use a utility tractor with a front end loader attachment for
that. But even for utility tractors, stopping in the middle of a job is an
enormous downside. If you are baling hay or drilling fenceposts or loading hay
bales, yuo are at the vagaries of the weather and the available daylight.
Being able to quickly refuel is a big deal.

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cmrdporcupine
Honestly, I disagree. This isn't a large farm tractor, it's a compact utility
tractor. They're more for small farm / rural residential / hobby farm users,
not the scenarios you're talking about.

Compact utility tractors like this are really only used for a couple hours. I
use mine once or twice a week -- clear the driveway of snow, rototill the
garden, spray the vineyard, box scrape the parking pad, haul some dirt with
the loader, mow the back field. None of this is more than a couple hours of
continuous use.

And if you consider that there's lots of times you're just sitting there
idling while shoveling dirt into the loader, an electric tractor wouldn't even
be using energy just sitting there waiting for your load. And bonus: not
making noise.

I've been waiting for this for a long time, but the price just isn't there
yet.

Also, people bailing hay aren't using compact utility tractors like this.
They're using bigger tractors. You couldn't even lift a full round bale with
this loader.

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GlenTheMachine
I am in fact a small farmer and I have and use a compact utility tractor.
_Sometimes_ I use it for an hour or two. Sometimes I’m on it all day long.

I lift full 500 lb round bales with my Ford 1320. Very carefully.

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vvanders
I've used a Ford 1500 to move ~500lb round bales and it was on the edge of
being safe. Even with a ~800lb implement on the back you're really pushing the
capability of that machine. I don't know if I'd touch round bales with a 1320,
I'd just roll them by hand(which I've done when the tractor is in the shop).

Now that we've got something appropriately sized(~5k lbs machine) it's a heck
of a lot safer to work with bales that size.

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GlenTheMachine
I have filled tires and I put a bale on the three point hitch bale fork. As
long as you go slow and work on level ground it's fairly stable.

Also, I should correct the record: it isn't a 1320. it's a 1710. I mistyped,
and before I noticed my mistake I couldn't edit the OP.

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mjcarden
The Fully Charged show recently reviewed an electric tractor available in the
UK:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClNdrJRan5k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClNdrJRan5k)

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tengbretson
I wonder if a hybrid drive system similar to the old chevy volts would ever
make sense for a tractor. A lot of use cases for tractors (definitely not all,
however) are very bursty in nature. I suspect for those use cases you could
get away with an engine with a significantly lower peak output.

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cmrdporcupine
The old Chevy Volt? You're causing me pain. They only discontinued it last
year! Mine doesn't feel "old"

For these kinds of compact utility tractors pure electric makes total sense.
But you're right for longer running bigger farm tractors and combine
harvesters, etc. you'd probably want a hybrid system.

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captainredbeard
The front-loader is humorously under powered, it's too expensive, and too
heavy. I want one anyway but I wouldn't buy it over a Kubota. How would it
perform in 100 degree weather with the battery?

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mastazi
This is cool but I wish they also made a small walk-behind tractor for smaller
gardens. I hope one day I will be able to buy something like a BCS but
electric.

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HeyLaughingBoy
There are probably BCS electrification projects around.

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cmrdporcupine
I've looked in the past. I thought about modifying my old Gravely (which I've
since sold), but I lack the machining skills. The drivetrain is super simple,
but some adapter plates would be needed. But I think the problem here comes
down to weight. It would be very hard to have a large enough battery pack
while still having it be maneuverable.

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cmrdporcupine
But perhaps one could just have multiple swappable packs, like some electric
motorbikes I've seen.

