RE: (ET) Mother Earth News

["Elie, Larry (L.D.)" <lelie ford com>]

Yep, but let's look at the details.....


SNIPS ALL OVER



> >> We don't know of a commercially viable electric tractor being made by
an
> >> established firm today. 

The Electric Ox is not an established product.  I'll be honest, I think it
is so 
expensive it will not make it.

>The cost of high-capacity motors and batteries is
> >> just too high to compete with gas engine-powered models. 

If compete means to be the same price; they're right-- a Tecumseh or B&S
motor 
costs about the same as big electric motor, but then we have to worry about
batteries
too!  Don't get me wrong; I have 4 ET's but to compete in the marketplace
means dollar 
for dollar.  For new hardware, ET's cost more.  But so do diesel's and
people buy those!

>The obvious
> >> environmental advantages alone won't convince enough buyers to pay ten
> >> times
> >> what a zippy little John Deere lawn or garden tractor costs.

OK, that one is wrong; it isn't ten times (and I'm sure they know it, it 
was
tongue-
in-cheek) but more like 1.5 to 2 times.  But it isn't par.  Look at a old
price list.  
Looks high to me.  And GE was soaking people on battery replacements; I was
told by 
a former dealer that he was asking more in 1974 than I can get them for
TODAY!  Shipping?  
Perhaps.  But did the consumer care?  A buck is a buck.

> >>   General Electric made the Elec-Trac lawn-tractor/riding mower in the
> >> 1970's but lost their shirts on every sale 

No, the profit was 'low' by industrial standards (less than $20 million a
year 
is hard to justify to a board of directors) but it was not a loss-- unless
one 
tries to show it as a loss for tax reasons.  Actually, if the tooling was
not 
paid for, even if the line is not running a profit, it may be a loss from
the 
perspective of the company.  I'm not a businessman but these things can get
tricky.  
Lost their shirts is wrong, but was probably said for effect.

>and discounted the line years
> >> ago. You can find used Elec-Tracs for sale at well under $1000. They
were
> >> robustly made, and parts are still available. But they were slow and
> >> heavy,

Slow?  Well, they are the same speed as other garden tractors of the day.  
They didn't have a 15 mph road gear, and that's inappropriate for a small 
tractor anyway.
Heavy?  Very.  That's not a problem for the user, only in transporting.

> >> underpowered for attachments, 

No.  Plenty of power as compared to gas tractors, but not perhaps for more 
than a few hours.

>too low slung to use in the garden row, and

E-8M and E-10M aside, they have as much clearance as any tractors of 
similar

size.  They aren't farm tractors and don't pretend to be.

> >> lack the run time to mow a big lawn on a single charge.
> >

With a REAL CHARGE and decent batteries, they do fine.  I cut 2 acres if 
I'm

taking off less than 1.5" on a single charge, but barely.  But then, I'm 
on 
flat ground.  If the grass is too high, this may be more of a problem
(cutting 
4" grass I run down in 3/4 acre or less!) and you can't cut very long a
night, 
but this is more of an urban myth than truth.  Then too; GE claimed 3 
acres.

I doubt anyone on this list ever cut 3 acres on a charge-- some people 
doubt

I cut 2!  Oh the claims of marketing people!


It sounds like someone needs to write a letter.

Larry Elie