(ET) tractor conversions (was: pollution)

[Jim Coate <jbc coate org>]

Various ICE tractors have indeed been converted to electric, including 
the older Farmall Cadet, Allis Chalmers G, New Holland, and 
Massey-Harris machines.
In particular, Ron Khosla, a small-scale organic farmer in New York 
state has converted an Allis Chalmers G to electric and told me "Our 
electric 'G' is absolutely the most important tractor on the farm. It 
has three times the power of the original 'G' which is huge and [has] 
enough battery life to do everything we need to on our diversified 
8-acre farm. [...] It's totally silent. You can creep along MUCH more 
slowly than we could with gas. It's silent. It doesn't smell. It's NO 
MAINTENANCE. [...] "It also has changed the way we operate the tractor. 
This is a psychological thing, but it's real. With the gas tractor, we 
were less likely to stop in the middle of the row to adjust things, or 
clean a shoe, or whatever. With the [electric] tractor... somehow there 
is psychologically less inertia... And we stop ALL THE TIME to make 
final adjustments which has resulted in a better job. When you stop, you 
are stopped. No engine running. It's just quiet and silent, no cloud of 
white smoke drifting over your head... nothing... Perfect silence. THIS 
is what sustainable farming is supposed to be about!." His initial 
conversion was fairly simple, using a common series wound DC motor, golf 
cart controller, and regular lead-acid batteries. After learning the 
hard way how to care for the batteries, he has added meters, deep-cycle 
golf-cart batteries, and a better charger. He is planning to do a second 
conversion as part of SARE grant, which will include documenting the 
process via a web site.
I've been hunting down this type of information for an article I wrote
http://www.coate.org/jim/ev/tractors/TNF_article.html
and a presentation I gave in August on electric tractors.

You can also see an example of a Yanmar conversion (bucket loader) at 
http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/216.html
Write me off-list if you want more information on Ron.

And if you are in the North East and seriously looking at converting an 
ICE tractor to electric, be sure to let me know!!

Anton and Federica wrote:
> Does anyone on the list have any experience converting a tractor of any 
> sort to electric?

_________
Jim Coate
1992 Chevy S10
1970's Elec-Trak
http://www.eeevee.com