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Ford is apparently starting to provide kits to convert gasoline vehicle to electric
CBS Video on Ford Electric Conversion kits
CBS Video on Ford Electric Conversion kits
If Ford can do it, why not tractor companies?
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Goolly Ford can't even get an electric F150 out the door. Their electric motors sold out within weeks of being available. Or is this something new?
Sure, they could do it, but it's more difficult for comnpanies to do that with mowers:
-more models, with lower volume, so kits need to deal with more variants of machines and/or lower volumes for a given kit
-kit cost will be same or more than what a new machine would be, as the expensive bits are the battery and motors
-what to do with the parts you take off (gas motor, gas tank, hydro's, wiring harness, other stuff)
It could be done, but I would expect sales to be low. Most people will buy a new, electric machine, or just keep using the gas machine until it dies and then buy a new or used electric machine (or another gas machine).
I've been thinking about what I would need to convert (or really, make, as I'd want a walkbehind of around the same size as my Snapper hydro walkbehinds, and there's not a lot to re-use once you strip the motor, hydraulic system, gas tank and lead-acid battery from it). The battery pack is IMHO the hard part, as you need the energy to make it last for what you do on the worst day, and also keep the battery pack in the right temp range (so cool it on hot days, and heat it on cold days).
-more models, with lower volume, so kits need to deal with more variants of machines and/or lower volumes for a given kit
-kit cost will be same or more than what a new machine would be, as the expensive bits are the battery and motors
-what to do with the parts you take off (gas motor, gas tank, hydro's, wiring harness, other stuff)
It could be done, but I would expect sales to be low. Most people will buy a new, electric machine, or just keep using the gas machine until it dies and then buy a new or used electric machine (or another gas machine).
I've been thinking about what I would need to convert (or really, make, as I'd want a walkbehind of around the same size as my Snapper hydro walkbehinds, and there's not a lot to re-use once you strip the motor, hydraulic system, gas tank and lead-acid battery from it). The battery pack is IMHO the hard part, as you need the energy to make it last for what you do on the worst day, and also keep the battery pack in the right temp range (so cool it on hot days, and heat it on cold days).
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Ford wanted 3k just for the motor and that was the little one. The big item would be finding a place to mount the battery.
I think robbing the parts from an old electric golf cart would be more feasible.
I think robbing the parts from an old electric golf cart would be more feasible.
Why would you want to?
All the hype about electric everything will save the planet is just a very expensive joke on anyone that falls for it.
All a battery powered anything does is move the pollution to a different location than where the item actually is.
Like I have said before, I can run a fossil fueled vehicle, the pollution exits the tail pipe of my vehicle.
Or I can run an electric vehicle, plug it into the electric grid, then walk up to the top of the hill from my house and see the smoke stack at the electric power station 5 miles from my house, that burns coal, also a fossil fuel.
So all the money I spent to go electric, moved the pollution 5 miles from my house.
What is 5 miles going to do on a global scale, nothing it is the same place when you look at it on that scale.
Want to do something for the environment that actually accomplishes something, stop cutting the grass, plant some trees and walk where ever you want or need to go, grow your own food, turn off the lights, air conditioner and heat at your house and business. Now you are doing something that will make a difference. But that is not convenient for anyone, don't make any money for anyone, so we never hear that.
All the hype about electric everything will save the planet is just a very expensive joke on anyone that falls for it.
All a battery powered anything does is move the pollution to a different location than where the item actually is.
Like I have said before, I can run a fossil fueled vehicle, the pollution exits the tail pipe of my vehicle.
Or I can run an electric vehicle, plug it into the electric grid, then walk up to the top of the hill from my house and see the smoke stack at the electric power station 5 miles from my house, that burns coal, also a fossil fuel.
So all the money I spent to go electric, moved the pollution 5 miles from my house.
What is 5 miles going to do on a global scale, nothing it is the same place when you look at it on that scale.
Want to do something for the environment that actually accomplishes something, stop cutting the grass, plant some trees and walk where ever you want or need to go, grow your own food, turn off the lights, air conditioner and heat at your house and business. Now you are doing something that will make a difference. But that is not convenient for anyone, don't make any money for anyone, so we never hear that.
2013 Husqvarna R322T(both decks and snowblower), Kubota BX1870(MMM, snowblower, loader, back blade)
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Dave 55
Warning. This is an off topic from the OPs post so if you are interested in specific electric conversion technology skip this post. If you want to think about the electric vehicle transition then I hope this helps:
I agree that electric conversion is a transfer from local usually urban, to distanced, usually rural sites. As wind power, solar PV, fields, and energy storage systems proliferate your coal plant is going to go away. Not just because the environment issues demand it but because it is not the cheapest way to make power anymore. I’m betting those of us that live down wind of that smokestack and suffer the ills it produces will be fine with that. There is a good possibility it might get converted to burn natural gas to augment nature when the demand is there. Cold starting a coal plant is not feasible for peak augmentation whereas gas is. My (or anyone else's) opinion will not count in this transition as the economy will be the determinant. One- possibly the greatest- peak power resource will be those dispersed electric vehicles which can give back the storage we don’t need at a cost to the power providers at less than any peak production would cost. The distribution system to provide the charging and its recoupment exists if some small upgrades are applied ie. metering. Charging after midnight flattens the peak demand and lessens the costs as well.
I am not meaning to incite any pro or anti argument but I do wonder why there is so much negativity and resentment about what seems like an inevitably cheaper and cleaner energy system. Power producers will move us that way because they can make money, avoid risks related to their pollution, avoid replacing aging fossil fuel plants that create a myriad of headaches for them and can avoid additional higher costs as subsidies for fossil fuels expire and get applied to renewables. If you had your life savings to invest in one industry would you buy stock in that coal plant 5 miles away?
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Warning. This is an off topic from the OPs post so if you are interested in specific electric conversion technology skip this post. If you want to think about the electric vehicle transition then I hope this helps:
I agree that electric conversion is a transfer from local usually urban, to distanced, usually rural sites. As wind power, solar PV, fields, and energy storage systems proliferate your coal plant is going to go away. Not just because the environment issues demand it but because it is not the cheapest way to make power anymore. I’m betting those of us that live down wind of that smokestack and suffer the ills it produces will be fine with that. There is a good possibility it might get converted to burn natural gas to augment nature when the demand is there. Cold starting a coal plant is not feasible for peak augmentation whereas gas is. My (or anyone else's) opinion will not count in this transition as the economy will be the determinant. One- possibly the greatest- peak power resource will be those dispersed electric vehicles which can give back the storage we don’t need at a cost to the power providers at less than any peak production would cost. The distribution system to provide the charging and its recoupment exists if some small upgrades are applied ie. metering. Charging after midnight flattens the peak demand and lessens the costs as well.
I am not meaning to incite any pro or anti argument but I do wonder why there is so much negativity and resentment about what seems like an inevitably cheaper and cleaner energy system. Power producers will move us that way because they can make money, avoid risks related to their pollution, avoid replacing aging fossil fuel plants that create a myriad of headaches for them and can avoid additional higher costs as subsidies for fossil fuels expire and get applied to renewables. If you had your life savings to invest in one industry would you buy stock in that coal plant 5 miles away?
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My thoughts 100%.
We just had Fiona come thru (Nova Scotia) we didn't get hit too bad around where I and my daughter live. My power had been off 1-1/2 days it's back now. My daughters still off since Friday evening, charge your new Tesla up on that. Sorry about hijacking this thread I just figured I'd put my 2 cents in.
Whether pro or anti EV there is a place for EVs in transportation. The only question mark is the extent to which an EV makes both economic and practical sense. Staying out of the pro and con arguments, what do MTF members almost always say to anyone looking for suggestions on what tractor to buy? Answer, is what is the intended use? Define that and you're 99% of the way to a decision.
If you drive to and from work and fancy an EV, fine, it should work for your intended purpose, go for it. Shorter, planned trips would fit nicely into the EV world as long as the supply and infrastructure is in your area to support it.
If for instance, you drive a work truck on customer calls, not so much. That truck has to be ready 24/7 and may be called upon for many unplanned trips per day. No way can a 4 to 6 hour recharge be part of that day. Same in caring for any acreage or farming operations. Harvest comes when it comes, and in many cases it is a 24 per day operation until completed using combines and such. Along with most meals and sleep, recharging would be a luxury unavailable to the harvesting crews.
Anyway, I guess the point is that the job defines the tools required. There simply is no one size fits all.
If you drive to and from work and fancy an EV, fine, it should work for your intended purpose, go for it. Shorter, planned trips would fit nicely into the EV world as long as the supply and infrastructure is in your area to support it.
If for instance, you drive a work truck on customer calls, not so much. That truck has to be ready 24/7 and may be called upon for many unplanned trips per day. No way can a 4 to 6 hour recharge be part of that day. Same in caring for any acreage or farming operations. Harvest comes when it comes, and in many cases it is a 24 per day operation until completed using combines and such. Along with most meals and sleep, recharging would be a luxury unavailable to the harvesting crews.
Anyway, I guess the point is that the job defines the tools required. There simply is no one size fits all.
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Getting back to the OP's question; why not tractor companies?...GE did have a very good tractor in the '70s...its shortcoming was the battery...not long duty cycle, long charging time and need to replace fairly frequently.....it did have power and provided a nice cut.....my brother's father in law was an electrical engineer for GE and he had one, but went with a Craftsman after changing the battery annually for a few years.....A couple of years ago there was a thread on here about a John Deere electric farm tractor....corded...it had a big reel with about a mile of extension cord....it worked, it just was not practical.....If someone comes up with a battery that will hold a charge for a long time, with a shorter charging time I think it will erase a lot of the skepticism.
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With the right equipment she could have powered her home with the Tesla.
I am not here to push this change. I just don't like the way it is being done. Can not go any farther on that subject here. But the cost of coal product was fabricated. That cloud seen out of the smoke stack if anyone bothered to keep up was likely nothing but steam vapor.
Now were we going to get our blast media. Silica sand? I don't think so. Chemicals, just more pollution.
It's time man kind thinks long term and thinks about all the effects of an action. But really man kind will not exist in 20 or 30 years if we don't do repeatable harm today.
When I was in first grade in 1960 they already had a vision for the future. It has since been proven a pipe dream in the desert of Arizona. But then there may have been a big flaw in the experiment. It was all carried out by educated people.
Don't get me wrong I am not anti-education. Nor am I stuck on 100 year old technology.
Let's not let total electrification become a disastrous pipe dream
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Me...never, welll maybe once for my hedge trimmer and 3-4 times for my mower LOL.
I can't imagine chopping thru that cable, it'd be a light show for sure.
True, but once the battery on the Tesla is dead...what then?
I will admit you are correct especially for delivery or other set routes and routines. You know you have a 300 mile route and have 350 miles worth of charge and it'll be recharged over night so all is good. But you're still producing pollution be it at your home or at the power plant.
For me, I can't see an electric in my future. I'll never shoot down a person wanting to purchase an electric vehicle, I'll just say I don't agree with their choice, to each his/her own
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I want a solar propulsion Jetson mobile.
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As well in the early 70's did case not have their name on a electric(battery) LAWN TRACTOR. I have no pics and so far can't find any but I just remember it having very high back tires, like maybe 27-28 " high?? I'm referring to their profile height not rim size. Am I dreaming??
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Ok, so there is currently a slim majority that EV will suit their needs. But where the problem lies is the fact that they are shoving these things down everyone’s throats… why? It simple, as with all tech companies, it comes down to one basic thing… built in obsolescence. Why build a quality product that lasts for years, when you can force people to buy a product at inflated prices that you can remotely continue to slow down and shorten life spans or just remotely shut it off until the consumer pays some garbage fee of some sort. It’s been working for Apple for years, and they’ve admitted it and nothing comes from it. Tesla is doing it as well. Avoid this garbage all together before you help them destroy your financial security and the environment.
My talking points are this if that is what you chose to call them that.
Our power plant is 5 miles from my house.
It is coal fired.
The mine the coal comes from is about 4 miles from the power plant.
There is a conveyor belt from the mine to the power plant.
I know people that work at the mine, I know people that work at the power plant, I know people that work for the power company that maintains the lines.
THEY ALL LIVE IN MY COMMUNITY, most of our money stays in our community.
I also know a lot of people that work in the oil and gas industries, they also live in our community and a large portion of that money also stays here.
It is putting people that live here to work, my son is a machinist and most of their work at his shop is for oil and gas or coal.
I also have enough trees on my property that I am or very close to carbon neutral.
So now people are telling me electric everything, battery everything, get rid of your natural gas furnace, cook stove, generator and my diesel truck that I just had a 12,000 pound skid steer behind Friday and will again this Friday.
Lets put all the machinists at my sons shop out of work, lets put all the power plant people out of work, let's put all the oil field people out of work, lets put the coal miners out of work, the coal truck drivers and so on right down the line, get rid of all those jobs. Then I can cut down a couple hundred trees, buy solar cells made in China putting people over there to work so I can have power at my house, maybe. But I could have power on a more regular basis if I bought Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries also from China to store electricity for those cloudy days or days when my solar panels are covered with snow. Then I might have more reliable power, maybe.
I do not know anyone in China, so why do I care if they have a job or not.
I do know a lot of people in oil, gas, coal and the power plant, if my money is going to create a job, I chose for it to be someone I know that has that job.
You may not know, my area of the country is the Saudi Arabia of coal, with a fair amount of oil and gas to boot.
So if that is a talking point, so be it.
Our power plant is 5 miles from my house.
It is coal fired.
The mine the coal comes from is about 4 miles from the power plant.
There is a conveyor belt from the mine to the power plant.
I know people that work at the mine, I know people that work at the power plant, I know people that work for the power company that maintains the lines.
THEY ALL LIVE IN MY COMMUNITY, most of our money stays in our community.
I also know a lot of people that work in the oil and gas industries, they also live in our community and a large portion of that money also stays here.
It is putting people that live here to work, my son is a machinist and most of their work at his shop is for oil and gas or coal.
I also have enough trees on my property that I am or very close to carbon neutral.
So now people are telling me electric everything, battery everything, get rid of your natural gas furnace, cook stove, generator and my diesel truck that I just had a 12,000 pound skid steer behind Friday and will again this Friday.
Lets put all the machinists at my sons shop out of work, lets put all the power plant people out of work, let's put all the oil field people out of work, lets put the coal miners out of work, the coal truck drivers and so on right down the line, get rid of all those jobs. Then I can cut down a couple hundred trees, buy solar cells made in China putting people over there to work so I can have power at my house, maybe. But I could have power on a more regular basis if I bought Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries also from China to store electricity for those cloudy days or days when my solar panels are covered with snow. Then I might have more reliable power, maybe.
I do not know anyone in China, so why do I care if they have a job or not.
I do know a lot of people in oil, gas, coal and the power plant, if my money is going to create a job, I chose for it to be someone I know that has that job.
You may not know, my area of the country is the Saudi Arabia of coal, with a fair amount of oil and gas to boot.
So if that is a talking point, so be it.
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