First electric tractor 30-70 hp

[GreensvilleJay]

re: autonomus operation....
I emailed the company, asked , here's what they said .." Driverless operations means that you can record an operation and then the tractor can repeat that operation in the future. "
So, you'd have to drive the tractor for the entire field to 'record' what has to be done. Then , next ay ,start in the EXACT position, press 'play' and the tractor will DRIVE as 'recorded'. You be have preset the 3PT right..as NO computer control of that ! Best pray a tree branch hasn't fallen overnight.....
This isn't what my 'autonomus' computers do' Press 'play' , they execute code AND based on current conditions , can modify operations as required.

Was also informed they have a loader for it but no specs were sent to me. Generally speaking 'linear actuators' are very slow devices so it'd be nice to KNOW the speed. BTW NO cab for it yet ,so NO heat in winter or A/C in summer....

 

[random]

Biggest problem would be a nuclear reactor that works in a car

Mr. Fusion?

 

[ccoon520]

When you say a $100,000 a year in fuel you must be kidding. There is no tractor on earth that is in the 50 - 70 hp range that will burn 274 gallons of fuel, at $2 per gallon, a day for 365 days a year. The number of days a farmer uses a tractor will not be 365 days a year for most applications. So the $10,000 a year savings is not realistic.

I do not know of very many farms that are paying $30 an hour for a tractor driver. So again the savings of $300 a 10 hour shift is not a real measurement for the autonomous driver's savings. I would never allow a machine to run unmanned in a field. Farming is not done in a controlled environment so the machine will still need to be observed. Plus there are many aspects that will require a person to be present. Checking the depth of cut on a disk harrow would require an off the tractor inspection. Refills of the sprayer or a 1000 other things are not going to be done without human intervention. Auto steer is a wonderful thing that has allowed a great increase in production. It will not be a replacement for a human to run the machine. A complement but not a replacement.

Winter operation will not be the utopia that you paint in you picture. Cold stars may be better but the cold will reduce the run times on the batteries. There will not be any heat produced by the engine therefore the hydraulics will be cold and slow moving thus further reducing the battery life.

The statement of 100 days of autonomous operation to recoup the cost is grossly optimistic. Is there a place for the electric tractor? There maybe in some limited applications for this tractor. I hope it works but cost vs return will need to be improved. Reliability must be proven yet and durability will be key.

I do not wish to sound confrontational but rather I was hoping for clarification of the numbers.

I said your farm not your 50 hp tractor. I was trying to outline a savings of 10% is a big deal. Also you may not pay farm hands 30 bucks an hour on their paycheck, but you do have to pay additional costs outside of the 10 dollars an hour you pay them on top of that. Taxes, insurance, benefits (if they get any), overhead, any damage to property they may accidentally cause, etc., that quickly rack up. And even if it were just 10 bucks an hour that turns it into 300 days which is still less than a year to pay for the extra cost of the tractor and 500 days for the tractor to pay for itself. Even if we assume that the tractor can only do "real work" for 5 hours then that is 1000 days which is under 3 years ROI (2.74 to be precise) for the purchase. Which would sit in the warranty range.

Also keep in mind there are many things that people said could not be automated that have been. An auto-filling station for a sprayer is not complicated or expensive to implement, and anything that may require adjustments (harrow depth for example) would need tuning but that could be done with relative ease and programing changes. And even if a person needs to be present one person can watch 3 or 4 of these running at once. Automation doesn't always remove everyone but it reduces the number needed and every company is automating because it reduces errors, increases QC and cuts cost in the long run.

 

[NHSleddog]

.......
So, you'd have to drive the tractor for the entire field to 'record' what has to be done....

As he said in their promotional docs, you have your best operator "teach the tractor the route", that way those crazy moves Billy makes when he is texting don't get remembered, just the best most efficient. It is a learning process.

The first car was also missing some of those things you mention.

 

[bucktail]

As he said in their promotional docs, you have your best operator "teach the tractor the route", that way those crazy moves Billy makes when he is texting don't get remembered, just the best most efficient. It is a learning process.

The first car was also missing some of those things you mention.

I don't think that this is the best approach for the programming at least not for ag use. The current auto steer seems more practical. They program in the edges of the field the implements that they're pulling even the variety of seeds that they planted. With the autonomous tractor pulling the grain cart the combine had the outline of the field and where it had already harvested. It communicated all that to the tractor.
The programming on this thing seems to be more like you'd put on a manufacturing robot. That works well for specific repetitive tasks but if you throw in variables there's no flexibility. Get some affordability and I can see it being practical for golf course maintenance and the like. I think that they need to rethink their approach to the programming if they want to get serious about the autonomous part of it.

 

[NHSleddog]

I don't think that this is the best approach for the programming at least not for ag use. The current auto steer seems more practical. They program in the edges of the field the implements that they're pulling even the variety of seeds that they planted. With the autonomous tractor pulling the grain cart the combine had the outline of the field and where it had already harvested. It communicated all that to the tractor.
The programming on this thing seems to be more like you'd put on a manufacturing robot. That works well for specific repetitive tasks but if you throw in variables there's no flexibility. Get some affordability and I can see it being practical for golf course maintenance and the like. I think that they need to rethink their approach to the programming if they want to get serious about the autonomous part of it.

I guess you should look at the company and the people behind it. AG is what they are. They are sitting in the middle of Californias farm basket for that reason.

The beauty of a learning system is it should be "learning".