Electric mowers, tractors and other lawn and farm equipment

[clyjr]

I've had a Ryobi rm480ex for about 2 years and have had zero issues with it. I have about 2.5 acres but with trees I would say my cutting area is probably 1.25 acres maybe a little less, I don't think I've ever seen the battery go below 50% charge.

The only complaint I would have is tall grass, it will bog down and turn the blades off. When that happens I just back up and turn the blades off and back on and let it clear out, sometimes it takes multiple cycles but I've never had to get off and manually clean it out. I'm lazy sometimes so my grass gets way too long, but when I keep it a reasonable length I can mow the whole yard in 45 minutes or less.

 

[gene]

Since 2 years ago, The City or Ojai California has converted all the Parks Dept. equipment to electricity. I was involved in the funding side so I have had a chance to speak with the operators of the equipment who are so pleased, basically this move changed their lives as you can imagine. The Parks Dept. has been 100% pleased. In order for funding, Ojai was required to destroy all the old gasoline powered equipment rather than just selling it off.

Ojai ELECTRIC Rollout — AGZA

 

[swaltner]

I don’t particularly care for the “destroy your previous, yet still functioning equipment” aspect of the funding for their conversion, but do understand the logic. Even with that, nice move!

I had the same reaction to the Cash for Clunkers promotion that was run several years ago.

 

[mspohr]

I don’t particularly care for the “destroy your previous, yet still functioning equipment” aspect of the funding for their conversion, but do understand the logic. Even with that, nice move!

I had the same reaction to the Cash for Clunkers promotion that was run several years ago.

That's a difficult issue. On the one hand you want to keep the polluting devices from continuing to pollute. On the other, you don't want to throw away functioning machinery. Hopefully the metal would be recycled into something less damaging. Probably a net gain for the environment to get rid of old polluting equipment.

 

[iPlug]

Anyone seen cordless shop vac's in the 40V+ power range? There are several sub-20V items out there that are part of their common battery power-tool ecosystems, but nothing to be seen in the higher voltage yard equipment class.

 

[Solarman004]

Anyone have experience converting a Cub Cadet or John Deere lawn tractor to electric?

 

[Evbwcaer]

Ego has a rider coming out, just FYI.

 

[CapeOne]

Additionally, Ryobi already offers an electric riding mower.

 

[bhzmark]

Here is a new EV tractor. don’t know anything about them except what I see on the website.
https://www.solectrac.com/

They are doing a rare crowd funding right now too. very interesting.

 

[Kandiru]

Additionally, Ryobi already offers an electric riding mower.

Correct, they had them for a while, but the new 100Ah zero-turn 42" one was news to me recently.

 

[swaltner]

I've had a Ryobi rm480ex for about 2 years and have had zero issues with it. I have about 2.5 acres but with trees I would say my cutting area is probably 1.25 acres maybe a little less, I don't think I've ever seen the battery go below 50% charge.

I really wish Home Depot would run a sale on the 100 Ah version of this mower. They frequently knock $400 off the 75 Ah version (a sale running right now for the next 5.25 hours), but I have yet to see them do the same on the 100 Ah version. I'm sure I'd be OK with the 75 Ah version, but I already got bit on a Hustler Zeon that didn't quite match up to the advertised runtime, so I'm a little gun-shy on a second electric riding mower. I'm pretty sure they do the same on the Ryobi ZTR mowers, only running a sale on the version with the smaller battery.

One thing I wish this had was a 12V power port to power stuff like the pump on a sprayer tank that I have. I have that wired up to the 12V battery on my gas mower for use when I spray for weeds. I guess that can be powered a 48V to 12V voltage regulator like they sell for golf carts. Would need to check the specs on the pump to see if a 10A or 20A regulator would be required, That could be added for $30 and a few crimped connectors.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Here is a new EV tractor. don’t know anything about them except what I see on the website.
https://www.solectrac.com/

They are doing a rare crowd funding right now too. very interesting.

Yeah, I’ve actually talked to the owner of that company. He isn’t moving fast. I suspect companies like CASE which have big customer accounts (like utilities who want to virtue signal, but hey, it’s a sale) will dominate. I was really glad to see CASE come out with an EV backhoe/loader. About time really!

CASE unveils first fully electric backhoe loader: the 580 EV

There are indeed good use cases for EV tractors. Large construction projects that need them for indoor work. Any indoor arena that needs to drag dirt rings (think rodeos and horse competitions). And if the size is right and the price isn’t too much of a premium, your small farmer might find them attractive just due to ease of use. No more on site diesel tanks needed, very little maintenance. Just the reduced hassle factor is a big plus.

 

[bhzmark]

He isn’t moving fast.

Yes. His videos are old and showing little progress. Musk demonstrates that leaders of innovative products need to move fast, even if that means failing and adjusting and fixing and trying again. Watching how Musk operates makes me impatient with so many others.

At this point it is not rocket science to get a decent EV tractor out the door. Insane that no one is really executing on this.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Yes. His videos are old and showing little progress. Musk demonstrates that leaders of innovative products need to move fast, even if that means failing and adjusting and fixing and trying again. Watching how Musk operates makes me impatient with so many others.

At this point it is not rocket science to get a decent EV tractor out the door. Insane that no one is really executing on this.

Except CASE. You have to give them props. They are the only one that I know of, other than very specialized mining machinery, etc.

 

[bhzmark]

Came across this electric gator: offers a 48v option in addition the gas models. Classic Series | Intimidator Inc.

The electric motor is only offered on their cheapest model, and the whole thing seems oriented to hunters/Rambo-wanna-bes, and as they say in the video "hard-working Americans" "to get the job done". The video is like an SNL skit.

 

[bhzmark]

And also found this EV gator type thing:

2020 Polaris RANGER EV UTV | Polaris

 

[bhzmark]

And one more gator/hunt UTV: http://www.huntve.com/

 

[Cosmacelf]

Sure but those are just an outgrowth of the golf cart industry which has had battery (lead acid) powered carts for years.

 

[VIKING26]

Anyone have experience converting a Cub Cadet or John Deere lawn tractor to electric?

This guy has some experience. You can even buy the plans or conversion kits. https://electriclawntractor.com/

 

[Lloyd]

I bought a DeWalt chainsaw. It cut like a demon. Battery lasted about an hour + of cutting 12" rounds. With 2 batteries, you could cut without stopping.