Electric Farm Tractor

Farm tractors are the handiest piece of equipment to have in a rural setting of more than a couple of acres. Of-course it is not a necessity but having one sure makes life easier unless you have a willing and able bodied extended family.

Draft animals like horses and mules are viable solutions if one is set up with barns, fences, figured out how to feed them over the winter and is an expert in their health and welfare. What to do if they get seriously hurt or sick is something that has to be considered. The old west solution of a bullet would be difficult not to mention that would mean back to square one.

I'm no on-hand expert of tractors or conversions but I've been wracking my brains on how to efficiently utilize the potential of our 40 acre homestead in terms of reaching our goal of near self sufficiency which entail growing enough food and having enough time and energy left for other work.

Inexpensive and simple sickle mower.

Famall used for haying.

Old Farmall tractor.

In the past I have been trading to get heavy work like haying and snow plowing done. Twenty years ago people would gladly come to mow and bale up hay for half the bales, ten years ago they wanted all the bales and now I have to pay more than the hay is worth just to get it mowed. I stopped having the fields mowed but the fire danger posed by unrelenting dry heat the last couple of summers is scaring us into action.

Small self powered square baler. The tractor just needs to pull it.

Baler with hay rake.

Hay rake to make windrows for baler after mowing.

Trouble is farm tractors are expensive new or old. Fifty year old running tractors in decent shape command thousands of dollars, not to mention the expense and hassle of maintenance in the coming world of oil scarcity. I have pondered how to run them say ten years from now with soaring fuel and oil prices.

The good news is there are growing numbers of people who have successfully converted old gas engine tractors to electric. The engine is replaced with an electric motor that runs off on-board batteries which are charged with a plug in battery charger or augmented by solar panels. This cuts out the bulk of the hassles of maintaining a tractor. Mechanical issues that come with engines, ignition and fuel systems will be eliminated along with fuel, engine oil and filter expenses and potentially hundreds of mechanical parts that will wear and break in time.

The beauty of these conversions are that they are simple to do requiring basically two main pieces to fabricate, a plate to cover the back of the transmission and an adapter to couple the electric motor shaft to the tractor transmission shaft. There is a machine shop in NY that already specializes in these fabrications.

Major parts for a conversion, electric motor, batteries, cables, charger and controllers are not cheap but the total price is lower than buying a new or newer tractor. The savings of not having to buy fuel and the dramatic reduction in maintenance, no more fiddling with a carburetor or changing engine oil, are attractive enough reasons for an electric tractor. I consider it the future of small scale farming and is something that is definitely in my plans for rural survival.

I figure the tractors should be big enough to do the work a team of two small horses or mules can do or close to it. For tractors to pull effectively, it needs weight for traction and stability. A hydraulic system for implements, loader and a 3 point hitch system can be run off of a power take off hydraulic pump or a separate electric motor driven hydraulic pump system.

Old tractors with motor problems are relatively common and cheap. Like a car, the trick is to look for one with a good body with motor problems. However on many old tractors the engine is part of the frame or rather the front axle and wheels are attached to the bottom of the engine and removing the engine would necessitate a work around for the front end and steering component support. Some like the AC model G or John Deere model L does not have this problem and are preferred tractors for a conversion.

Tractor pulling a manure spreader.

Family haying.

Farmall with a sickle mower.

Some of the biggest vehicles today are hybrid systems that are run by electric motors. Freight train locomotives and submarines are diesel electric, a diesel engine providing the power to run electric motors that turn the wheels or propellers. Similarly nuclear submarines run on electric motors powered by a nuclear reactor.

Recent news of viable air propusion has me wondering if that technology is adaptable for farm tractors because that would be a even better solution, no expensive batteries to buy. I can't see why not.