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Personally I think $900 for a set is a
little steep. 700 or so is what I paid a couple of years ago, but
that may have gone up.
Even $900 over 8 years...Well, that isn't bad. I use mine for mowing, plowing, snow blowing, rototilling, tree removal, ...just about anything I can manage with it. If you compare it with an ICE tractor: You need gas of course, and probably a carb kit/ sping-fall tune up, oil changes, etc. When I last had an ICE tractor, it was $70 for a spring tune up. New plugs, gas filter, oil change, air filter, etc. Mowing was between .75 to 1.2 hours of use per gallon. (Apr - Sep, mowing around 4 times a month) So, around a half gallon to do my yard. Then a small amount of gas and oil to string trim (Plus a $15 yearly tune up on it). In the winter my snow blower would use 1/2 gallon or so to do my driveway (plus a $35 yearly tune up for it too). Plus a new starter battery for the snow blower and tractor every 3 years...25ish a pop. Plus the rototiller for the garden. We didn't have one, so we rented, and had to pay for gas. So for me I had around $112 a year fees just in tune ups.(There is a cost of ET batteries) Replacement starter batteries over 6 years: $100 (150 over 9 years). Then ~20 gallons of gas for mowing/string trimming in a season. Then maybe 5 to 10 gallons for snow blowing. Figure 28 gallons for a year....at whatever it costs at the time. Even if you said 28 gallons cost $100 (~3.57 a gallon), then over 8 years the ICE setup cost me $900 more then the ET. That's not to say I have not incurred costs with the ET. I have replaced a F/R switch, a couple of lights, a belt, sharpen blades, etc. But these are also costs that I had with the ICE tractor, so they negate each other. And as Rob said: "never mind those winter starts that don't start". I had ONE time that the snow blower didn't start when I flipped the switch...traced it back to a defective circuit breaker. In that case I put the plow on until the CB was replaced. :) But that's not the end of the story. How many times have I used my tractor as a battery backup in the past? I can think of 5. Once for ever 2 days with no power. We lived off that tractor for those 2 days. Lights, sump pump, microwave, hot place, 2 refrigerators, 2 laptops (My wife and I work from home), etc. The batteries in the tractors have paid for them selves (in our case), many times over, and there is still a lot of life left in them. Like you Rob, I also charge from PV. It really costs us nothing additional to run the tractors, for us the ROI is WELL worth it. Brian On 1/6/2013 12:26 PM, Robert wrote: While I agree the running cost of the ET's is low (that's one reason why I'm building one) you also have to take in the expense of the batteries. A new set of batteries today cost around 900 dollars. The people I've talked to say that they get around 8 years on a set of batteries but for those of you who don't know lead acid batteries are rated by cycles and the number of cycles is determined by the depth of discharge. What that means is if you keep you depth of discharge low your batteries will go through more cycles before they need to be replaced so those of you with smaller lawns and tractor use will have batteries that last much longer. But let's say the average batteries will last 8 years, that's 900/8 or $112.50 you have to add to the cost of fuel per year, even if you charge from your PV array like I do. Of course the added benefit of cleaner air, low noise and the numerous ICE problems that plague other owners are gone and I've yet to find an ICE engine that didn't need filters, oil and spark plug changes, never mind those winter starts that don't start! |