While electric cars and trucks go a big part in solving pollution and climate change, let's not forget that the cost benefits will go a big part in getting them into driveways. The same applies to many other types of vehicles. An example most of us are familiar with: electric lawn mowers.
We can't all be farmers, but many of us have a lawn and maybe a small garden or a piece of forest. In our garages and sheds we have things like leaf blowers, knives, chainsaws, and mowers. When these things run on gas they'll run right most of the time, but can be a huge pain if they don't. Dirty spark plugs, clogged lines, and the eventual demise of the tiny two-stroke engine will eventually hinder work and infuriate our spouse that things on the honey-do list aren't getting done.
If you use this device professionally, there will be little time for headaches. A spouse resentful that the gardening wasn't done will be far more annoyed than when the bills are not paid. But do you know what will make your loved ones happy? Bring more money home. They always like that.
This is where the electric tractor as launched by Solectrac really shines.
With the gas tractor, you won't make any money repairing it. If you're not a handyman, not only are you suffering from downtime, you're paying a mechanic to work on it. Both of these have a negative impact and keep you from buying your child's Xbox Series X or Playstation 5 while your fuel bills keep jewelry out of the woman's jewelry box. If mom and the kids are not happy, nobody is happy.
However, with the electric tractor, there is less downtime for maintenance so you can keep moving dirt and get paid for it. Solectrac says the cost will be reduced to ⅓ of what you would pay to keep the diesel tractor running. And fuel? Grid power is cheap compared to gas or diesel, and it's even cheaper if you use solar power in your home or garage. The next time gas prices go up, you will expose this debacle.
All of which makes it a breeze, but Solectrac wasn't enough.
Quiet, emission-free performance in the field – the eUtility tractor can be charged from renewable energies or from the power grid. Image courtesy of Solectrac.
“We have decided to reduce the initial deposit so customers can express their interest and intent. That's good for our customers and good for our production line, ”said Steve Heckeroth, CEO and founder of the company, as we reported earlier today.
Previously, they had planned to ask for half the price to buy one of their electric tractors. The base price for their smaller tractor is $ 25,800, which is not bad for a tractor. My father's diesel mahindra, which he uses for lot maintenance, weeding, and dirt work, was exactly in this price range and he got good business with it. Making $ 12,000 in cash isn't always easy, however. Lots of people finance their tractors and then pay for them. Add in the price of accessories and PTO equipment and you're talking about serious savings.
So Solectrac has reduced the requirement to $ 1000. Almost anyone who uses a tractor for work can come up with this, even if they want to fund the rest of the purchase. They are currently taking orders for their 40 hp equivalent eUtility tractor and their 30 hp equivalent Compact Electric Tractor (CET). The tractors can be connected to existing farm and work equipment so that they can be used wherever tractors are currently in use.
Image courtesy of Solectrac.
In addition to cost, there are a myriad of other reasons electric tractors are great.
Noise is great. Working with the tractor can be much more pleasant without the noise and vibrations of an internal combustion engine. You don't feel like you are all shocked and numb during your breaks. They also cause less stress on farm animals, horses and other animals on the farm, and having neighbors nearby will not disturb them and their animals. It can even make working at night a lot more practical.
Constant and powerful low-end torque is also a big plus. The equipment I've worked with always has a slight lag and hesitation as the clutches click into place to move. You get used to it and take it into account when making precise movements, but the idea of just moving the equipment into a pile of earth or moving a bucket or other device sounds a lot simpler. Skid steer electric loaders (they were also announced) sound like a joy to use.
And we haven't even touched on the environmental benefits. For the owner or operator, the lack of fumes is a big plus, both for comfort and long-term health. For the rest of us who don't drive the tractor, reducing overall emissions would be a great thing. When recharging with renewable energy, there is the potential for serious emissions reductions if enough people switch to electricity.
Products like these electric tractors are more important than many people think. We tend to associate tractors with farms, and there are definitely a lot of tractors that work on farms, but they are used for so many other things. We can't identify it as a tractor at first sight, when we see it on construction sites or roads under construction, and when someone is moving a large, empty field to keep weeds from flooding it. That's because they are very versatile machines that can run a wide variety of devices that are attached to them. Backhoe loaders, smaller loaders, and many other things are essentially a tractor.
If we look at the combined effects of all of these vehicles that drive day in and day out, that doesn't add up to what cars and trucks do, but it's still sizeable and something is worth doing to improve it. Unless you're the woman depicted in Kenney Chesney's “She Thinks My Tractor Is Sexy,” cars are far more exciting, and we dare say the S3XY theme. So it's good to see companies moving into less exciting markets to bring vital machines to life.
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