Re: Electric Farm Tractors

Eeyore wrote:
bill wrote:
Eeyore wrote:
bill wrote:
4. it's possible to electrify fields right now
It's absurdly impractical.

well graham, that depends on the field. As applies to
iowa
unirrigated corn fiends, you are quite correct. as applies to
california circle irrigated cropland, it would be a pretty
small
investment on top of the extant irrigation system. So....
Figure 20%
of agricultural diesel could be replaced with electric, not a
bad
chunk to dig in 1 go.

Are you seriously suggesting that tractors drag a cable round
the field behind
them ?

Circular irrigated fields have a very long wheeled arm on a
swivel that already drives itself around the fields. running an
electric cable along that arm and attaching it to a tractor would
be
an absolutely trivial addition, so yes, for certain applications,
I
am.
http://www.cgstock.com/locations/new_richmond/6308

And what would be the point of having a tractor there ?


Plowing, seeding, fertilizing, harvesting, you know, all the
usual things a tractor would be on a field for.



I always thought farm tractors should be the most practical place for a
battery-powered electric vehicle. They need to be fairly heavy, so the
battery pack weight is at worst not a minus, and at best replaces other
ballast. They might cover miles and miles going up and down a field
plowing or whatever but as the crow flies they don't get that far from
home base so range isn't nearly the issue it is for a vehicle used for
commuting. They don't get used at night very much so the charge cycle
could be almost all night, so no quick charging to reduce battery life.
Tractors need tons of torque at very low speed, which electric motors do
very well, but don't need as much horsepower as a typical small econobox
car. They don't need very high top speeds which keeps the drivetrain
simpler. Yes, you have all the normal needs for auxillary power, like
ac and heat, so it's not perfect. However, you don't have to worry
about aerodynamics, either :-). Even if a battery pack could only last
for half a day of work, given the rest of the scale of the equipment on
a medium to large farm it would be practical to just swap in a fresh
battery pack for the afternoon.

Anyway, I agree that stringing power lines for an electric tractor
doesn't make much sense in general, but how about a battery-powered one?

--
Regards,
Carl Ijames carl dott ijames aat verizon dott net
(remove nospm or make the obvious changes before replying)


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Electric Farm Tractors
    ... usual things a tractor would be on a field for. ... battery pack weight is at worst not a minus, ... Yes, you have all the normal needs for auxillary power, like ... like a hay baler or any other PTO driven equipment alone will use WAY ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Electric Farm Tractors
    ... usual things a tractor would be on a field for. ... battery-powered electric vehicle. ... They might cover miles and miles going up and down a field ... Even if a battery pack could only last ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Electric Farm Tractors
    ... Two more solutions to deliver grid power to a tractor: ... Instead of a lot of trolley lines one trolly line ... mounted on cables at the ends of the field. ... battery pack. ...
    (sci.energy)