Re: Electric Farm Tractors

On Aug 2, 12:35 am, "Carl Ijames" <carl.ija...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
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.

To here you're more or less correct.

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.

Some do some don't, so we're limiting the perspective market a
mite here.

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 :-).

Here we have a problem. A typical tractor will be running
200-400 HP and using most of it most of the time. Running equipment
like a hay baler or any other PTO driven equipment alone will use WAY
more power than an econobox. Tractors are very rarely simply driven
around the fields, they are accomplishing something while they are
doing it, that consumes power, great gobs of power. By comparison, an
econobox at cruising speed is using roughly 20 hp, and only uses the
rest of its 60 hp for takeoffs.

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.

You will never see "swappable" battery packs that size, they
make up most of the mass and cost of the vehicle!

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Electric Farm Tractors
    ... battery-powered electric vehicle. ... battery pack weight is at worst not a minus, ... equipment and plows. ... Yes, you have all the normal needs for auxillary power, ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: takes 1.5 gallons gasoline to produce 1 gallon ethanol in modern agriculture
    ... I do know that a small amount of plutonium can drive a spacecraft for many ... spacecraft do not need quite as much power (after ... being launched) as a farm tractor, ... I'll admit my working assumptions for critical mass is a few ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: Electric Farm Tractors
    ... And what would be the point of having a tractor there? ... Even if a battery pack could only last ... Carl Ijames carl dott ijames aat verizon dott net ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Ping Larry: Sintered Bronze
    ... We'd park the tractor on a hill so that we could start it in the morning by rolling it down the hill and popping the clutch. ... The tractor usually started, but the cars didn't, so after Dad started the tractor we'd be towing the cars down the road with the tractor and a log chain to start them. ... But farm kids driving milk to the cheese factory in the morning was evidently allowed. ... We never worried about the power going down because we didn't have power. ...
    (rec.boats.cruising)
  • Re: Ping Sycho
    ... But the best thing about it, is that it has a cell phone charger so you can charge your phone during a prolonged power failure. ... I now have my own generator, an amateur radio license, and participate in local and state community emergency response teams. ... I wonder if there is such a thing as a generator attachment for a lawn tractor:-) ...
    (alt.2600)