Kubota Electric Tractor Survey

[Deleted member 47704]

Back in the early 1970s, our neighbor had an electric riding lawnmower. I was too young to pay attention to exactly what brand it was... but from my research, it was most likely GE elec-trak

Batteries Not Included: 1970s GE Elec-Trak E12

Alrighty then, here's something you didn't expect to see here! Or, maybe you did since it's from me. This is a 1970s GE Elec-Trak E12 battery-powered garden tractor and it's in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It's on Craigslist with an asking price of $425. And, just like the old commercials that you used...

barnfinds.com

It was run from standard car batteries (flooded lead acid). These were 1/2 acre lots with house in the middle with driveway....so not a whole lot of mowing.

I remember those things, a friend of mine had one.Had a small lawn.

 

[man00]

Your link is for SO2 scrubbing, not CO2. Per your article SO2 scrubbers increase CO2 emissions by a small amount.
While it looks like SO2 scrubbing has been well accepted, C02 has a much smaller percentage of actual use (probably incredibly expensive to implement). CO2 IS the GHG of concern.

Power Plant Emission Trends | US EPA

This page details power plant emission trends from coal-fired power plants over time, comparing those emissions with electricity generation. Maps illustrate the locations where the facilities with the highest emissions.

www.epa.gov

I am still waiting for a real explanation of your comments on nuclear power. I would appreciate you keeping the comments/discussion apolitical. For the record EVs have no real use case for where or how I live, so I will never buy one.

I'm waiting on a nuclear power impact wrench

 

[Jchonline]

I remember those things, a friend of mine had one.Had a small lawn.

Ya most of those probably ended up as yard art….

 

[Freeheeler]

I'm waiting on a nuclear power impact wrench

For now the closest thing we have is an oxy-ac torch. I've never had a fixture I couldn't undo with one

 

[GBJeffOH]

I remember those things, a friend of mine had one.Had a small lawn.

I worked on a few of them around 1977.

 

[jyoutz]

I'm not buying into the socialist wet dream with electric cars etc. or their scare tactics.

Coal employed thousand of people.With scrubbers the emissions are manageable. Coal is inexpensive.

Scrubber myths and realities

Don`t let common misperceptions about flue gas desulfurization systems bias a realistic appraisal of this capable control technology

www.power-eng.com

Natural gas is way cheaper than coal to produce the same KW of power. And it is just as abundant. Coal requires mining, truck and rail transportation, frequent plant cleanup and disposal of toxic waste, not to mention more people to operate the plant and the cost of scrubbers. Natural gas is way cheaper to transport by pipeline, the plants are cheaper to operate and require less employees. And no mountains of toxic residue to dispose of. The power produced is cheaper than coal. Coal is obsolete.

 

[greg86z28]

Back in the early 1970s, our neighbor had an electric riding lawnmower. I was too young to pay attention to exactly what brand it was... but from my research, it was most likely GE elec-trak

Batteries Not Included: 1970s GE Elec-Trak E12

Alrighty then, here's something you didn't expect to see here! Or, maybe you did since it's from me. This is a 1970s GE Elec-Trak E12 battery-powered garden tractor and it's in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It's on Craigslist with an asking price of $425. And, just like the old commercials that you used...

barnfinds.com

It was run from standard car batteries (flooded lead acid). These were 1/2 acre lots with house in the middle with driveway....so not a whole lot of mowing.

Hey that's pretty cool thanks for sharing.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Guy here in Cambridge(?) is trying to remake those elec-trak units... but really he cannot compete against MTD (Cub Cadet). Told him 5-6 years ago...in a nutshell..buy cheap MTD units, install golfcart E-tech, sell for 10% above cost.

 

[SDT]

I'm not buying into the socialist wet dream with electric cars etc. or their scare tactics.

Coal employed thousand of people.With scrubbers the emissions are manageable. Coal is inexpensive.

Scrubber myths and realities

Don`t let common misperceptions about flue gas desulfurization systems bias a realistic appraisal of this capable control technology

www.power-eng.com

Agreed, Bob.

The cost of coal is being forced higher by government(s).

SDT

 

[Deleted member 47704]

Agreed, Bob.

The cost of coal is being forced higher by government(s).

SDT

People are ignorant of how clean coal can be. This moronic state decided the most expensive option was our choice of power. (nuclear) Now we are committed.

 

[SDT]

Natural gas is way cheaper than coal to produce the same KW of power. And it is just as abundant. Coal requires mining, truck and rail transportation, frequent plant cleanup and disposal of toxic waste, not to mention more people to operate the plant and the cost of scrubbers. Natural gas is way cheaper to transport by pipeline, the plants are cheaper to operate and require less employees. And no mountains of toxic residue to dispose of. The power produced is cheaper than coal. Coal is obsolete.

More expensive that NG but certainly not obsolete, absent government intervention.

I simply do not believe that the two most populous countries in the world, India and China would be building hundreds of new coal fired generating plants if coal was "obsolete."

SDT

 

[Deleted member 47704]

More expensive that NG but certainly not obsolete, absent government intervention.

I simply do not believe that the two most populous countries in the world, India and China would be building hundreds of new coal fired generating plants if coal was "obsolete."

SDT

We used to make a lot of money selling coal to those countries. Obango ruined the lives of thousands of people in the coal industry.

 

[BigG]

I love how people advocate for nuclear power when there is no known way to dispose of the waste safely. Things with half lives of over 100,000 years and you want to produce great quantities of it. This is not a wise move. Will need radio active credits instead of carbon credits.

 

[Jchonline]

People are ignorant of how clean coal can be. This moronic state decided the most expensive option was our choice of power. (nuclear) Now we are committed.

Perhaps they are as concerned about the ability of the government and business partners to design a carbon capture and storage system that is competitive per kW of power output. That said if one is going to build a new coal plant then yes it should be a clean as possible.

Here is an article for those interested that explains Clean Coal.

Everything You Need to Know About Clean Coal

Is carbon capture and storage technology a pipe dream or panacea?

www.popularmechanics.com

There are 51 plants in the world.
One use case is Petra Nova around Houston, TX. However they shut it down in 2020 because it costs so much to run it was not worth the investment to keep it going. It was only capturing CO2 from one of the 8 boilers, and suffered a number of outages resulting it missing CCS goals by 17% over they first 3 years. It cost $1billion to build (again for just one boiler). The resulting CO2 captured at 99% purity was expected to cover a 4000 acre space 5000ft underground. Maybe CT leaders are concerned about that happening in their state? A power plant that is shutdown helps no one.

A 1.1MW Nuclear plant is $6-9 billion. Comparing a truly clean coal plant with CCS enabled at the same capacity would be more than nuclear.

If you have different figures/research please share them. Using words like “socialist” or “ignorant” instead of providing real understanding and context isn't really helping others learn about clean coal.

 

[Jchonline]

I love how people advocate for nuclear power when there is no known way to dispose of the waste safely. Things with half lives of over 100,000 years and you want to produce great quantities of it. This is not a wise move. Will need radio active credits instead of carbon credits.

The U.S. generates about 2,000 metric tons of used fuel each year.
This number may sound like a lot, but it’s actually quite small. In fact, the U.S. has produced roughly 83,000 metrics tons of used fuel since the 1950s—and all of it could fit on a single football field at a depth of less than 10 yards.

Not only this, spent fuel rods can be recycled. France already does this. They can also be moved from on site pools to dry storage after 5 years.

You haven’t convinced me.

 

[Deleted member 47704]

I love how people advocate for nuclear power when there is no known way to dispose of the waste safely. Things with half lives of over 100,000 years and you want to produce great quantities of it. This is not a wise move. Will need radio active credits instead of carbon credits.

You can clean carbon out of the air. Thats what carbon capture is all about.
You can't clean up radiation. Millstone 1 was shut down and is still leaking.It was releasing hydrazine also. in 1996, the plant released one gallon per hour of hydrazine into Long Island Sound. The plant's operators were convicted in 1999 for falsifying environmental records related to the hydrazine release

Nukes aren't clean by any stretch.

 

[Jchonline]

You can clean carbon out of the air. Thats what carbon capture is all about.
You can't clean up radiation. Millstone 1 was shut down and is still leaking.It was releasing hydrazine also. in 1996, the plant released one gallon per hour of hydrazine into Long Island Sound. The plant's operators were convicted in 1999 for falsifying environmental records related to the hydrazine release

Nukes aren't clean by any stretch.

So because someone did something illegal and they were convicted now all nuclear is unsafe?
Those people should have to bathe in the filth they were responsible for.

 

[sheepfarmer]

I was enthusiastic about nuclear power when I was young, a long time ago. But then I realized that safe operation relied on humans not making mistakes, honest or otherwise. Just call me old and cynical, but that isn't happening soon. And then there is the problem of unforeseen natural disasters.

 

[Jchonline]

Back to the OP topic...I wonder if Kubota sent the electric tractor surveys to folks with smaller machines only? It might appeal most to BX owners...small lots maybe someone not using it for 6-8 hours at a time. I havent see anything from them but I have owned M62, M7060, L6060.

 

[Deleted member 47704]

I was enthusiastic about nuclear power when I was young, a long time ago. But then I realized that safe operation relied on humans not making mistakes, honest or otherwise. Just call me old and cynical, but that isn't happening soon. And then there is the problem of unforeseen natural disasters.

or sabotage.
It was creepy that 12 days before the Three Mile Island accident(?) that the movie "The China Syndrome" was released.

Here's an interesting read

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/i-oversaw-the-us-nuclear-power-industry-now-i-think-it-should-be-banned/2019/05/16/a3b8be52-71db-11e9-9eb4-0828f5389013_story.html