Electric tractor is perfect for a guy that doesn't really need a tractor.

Here’s the major issue for a tractor….. when the battery depletes and I’m at the farm with no electricity then I’m done for the day. If I have a diesel motor all I need is a few five gallon cans, five minutes, and I’m back to work. But everyone needs to understand this tractor has intended applications and owners. Case in point is what I stated above, farm use with no electricity is not good. But maybe a city that uses it at a local park?

Tim really enjoying the videos with the Solectrac. Definitely still a way to go, but I think for many of us who just have the occasional garden or homestead task this is the future we're looking at. I will say, I am disappointed with only 12-13 hp at PTO. I don't know if a 4' rotary cutter would even work with it...and down here in the South with 90+ degree days for much of the year, I'd be concerned about that overheating. Keep 'em coming...still watching intently!

Pretty cool for someone who doesn't use a tractor everyday and or have a smaller property. I'm actually pretty impressed.

My TYM25 will pull a 60" finish mower for 2 solid hours and only use a 1/4 tank of diesel. Maybe when version 3.0 comes out it will bear consideration.

Very interesting and well done, Tim and Christy. At that extreme usage, it gives a good point of reference for someone considering the electric option based on their uses. Blessings.

Thanks Tim. About what I expected. Electric technology is only suitable for certain applications at this time. May be fine for some.

Excellent demonstration. I was quite impressed and initially did not think you would cover that much area. For many folks a 2.5-3 acre cutting area would be sufficient and you showed it could be done. I cut 3-4 times that on any given day so looks like I'll stick with good'ole diesel power.

I appreciate your time and devotion to your viewers Tim, this is exactly what the public deserves from these people making/pushing new innovative products that one day we might be forced to live with. It is a crime they are not making all this real world knowledge available to us all!

Tim, I operate my tractor exactly as you demonstrated today when I'm running my rough cutter. No less than 2 hrs. So a true life test for me. I'd be interested in battery degradation over time as it wears out. I'm excited about the future of EV tractors, just not this one or others at this time for my 10 acres hobby farm. These electric tractors are either underpowered or overpriced to justify. Thanks a bunch for running this one for us. As usual, you are most helpful. I've been following you for seven yrs now. I've owned my tractor for six. You've been my mentor from day one, as I didn't know anybody with a tractor when I started out! Many thanks!

This was something I was curious to see on how the Solectrac did. Since discovering they're developing a hydrostatic version, I want to guess that the battery life would be better while running a smaller flail mower. Seeing as this tractor is the first version, my hope is the battery technology gets better over time.

Good unbiased test to just put out there and let people decide for themselves. Seems like the tractor performing like that would be a decent option then for a lot of people if they were so inclined to electric versus fuel use.

I believe you are absolutely fair in your evaluation. Thanks for sharing.

A Full Charge Let’s get started. Thanks for another video Tim

This certainly has its purpose. Think of a homeowner who owns around 3 acres and wants to keep a finished cut. Pull a 5-6’ finishing mower and you shouldn’t really have any issues cutting the entire property with one charge. Like someone else said, it’s perfect for someone who doesn’t really need a tractor.

Thanks for these videos, they're a great contribution to the discussion! So two hours doesn't sound bad. But -- that's with a pretty new battery, in warm weather. These batteries experience diminished capacity as they age, and when they operate in colder weather. There's lots of information out there about this.

Honestly went about how I imagined it would maybe a little better. Honestly I could see the average person get about a weeks use out of it on a full charge not a week worth of projects. Just here and their stuff. However personally I would have no use for something like that. I have no idea on the cost of the tractor but to me the cost of the tractor and the performance you get from it would never be worth it. Thanks for doing this test and showing us as you always do.

Takeaway for me is that a few more years of development is needed.

Insight as to why the over temp lights turned on towards the end of the test. Obviously you have things like heat soak but more so it's because as battery voltage goes down you actually need to use more amps to produce the same amount of watts. More amps generates more heat. Knowledge is power.

Tim, It would be interesting to see; If you let the grass grow back to about the same conditions, and you re-mowed that same area in the same method/pattern but in low speed range. Would the longer run time, but slower speed, cover more area mowed, or would it cover less area mowed? Faster for less time versus slower for more time, would be fun to see what method gets more acres.

It seems like the best option for a compact tractor would be separate motors for the drive, pto, and hydraulics.

Thanks Tim but lord 2 hours? and extreme conditions? That is normal tractor work for most and forget doing a side hustle with that machine. I just do not see benefit even if they would get the life doubled I still could not use one. I love to see your honest tests. I think it provides clarity for the masses.....

Nice presentation and thanks always for the true and honest videos. Not ready for prime time yet or suitable for extreme northern climates.

2 hours isn't terrible, but could be better. Between work and family obligations, 2-3 hours on the brush hog a day is about all I can squeeze in most days, if I'm able to get on it at all

Lovely Tractor 👍

I want a flail mower. Edit: My 25hp LS goes a full day on a 7 gallon tank of diesel. That's bush-hog or finish mower work at full throttle to operate the PTO. Loader work, plow dragging, box blade work all last even longer.

couldnt give me that tractor on a bet!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

So at 3% it becomes a very large paper weight. At 2 hours of hard use its about done till charged. For some people that buy a tractor for looks & to make a statement this is their tractor. I actually work my tractor, 60 inch cut 3 cylinder diesel I can run all day on 1/2 tank of fuel & cut a lot of grass. Tim a BIG THANK YOU for this information. Thank you for being honest.

Tim, This is a perfect tractor for me! I'lm almost 81 years old and a 2hr. day sound better to me all the time.

Good job explaining Tim. Work done = horsepower with a time element involved. For big mowing jobs like that I think battery isn't practical. Sometimes we all just want to use available horsepower to get the job done. Very real- world test.

This is perfect for someone that lives in an HOA Community and doesn’t use their tractor a lot. If you have an 2 maybe 3 acre plot that is on level ground then you are good. The more variables you throw at it the more you should choose a diesel powered vehicle for your duties

My thoughts are the battery time needs to be longer to cut at least 5 acres a charge. The tractor isn’t for everyone but a good alternative for someone with three acres who wants/needs a tractor. In the winter pushing or using the loader in snow the temps and the work would probably have a significant effect on run time. That might be a subject for a winter video…Always enjoy the Bible verse at the end!!

Yep, no way I would have one,or buy one.

I would like to see how this does on a dyno, which is a consistent load and would find an independent horsepower rating. I can see this machine having its place in the market for sure, once the bugs are worked out.

It does a pretty good job. My fear would be 2 years from now. Does 2 hours run time turn into 1 hour and so on. My leaf blowers and weed eaters perform well out of the box....but with each use the battery loses a little something. Now my leaf blower is good for about 3 minutes.

Good review.

I'm not sold on electric tractors but like hand held equipment it's fine. The issue is long term reliability and price on replacing the battery and would a new battery be as good as the first one.

Even in my Kubota Lx2610, I find myself mowing in low most of the time. It takes a little longer, but I enjoy the look much better then when I’m in medium range. Not to mention most of my property is hills and medium range tends to be to bumpy and rough of a ride for my bad back. (FYI, I find this to be a problem on most tractors that I use on the farm, so it’s not just limited to my little LX. I have the same issues on our big Massey and JD AG tractors). Bonus: The longer I’m on the mower, the more time I get to enjoy the peace,serenity and solitude that I enjoy so much. Nothing clears my head better then a set of headphones and a day of mowing, only in my case mowing takes up 50% of my time on the farm. I prefer my farm and neighboring family farms to look like a golf course. It really brings in boarders for my cousins horse business. They call my farm, Shangri-La and prefer to trail ride on my corner of the family farm.

You keep this up and solectrac will be knocking on your door to pick up their little electric toy..lol..

Interesting video Folks. They have a long way to go if they're going replace a diesel power tractor. A 36 degree long retracting extension cord off that electric pole next to the building. You could've finished the job!

That was a great test. It gives people exactly what they need to know. Strange that the tractor at some point of low battery percentage would not of automatically shut off the pto. And maybe the loader function. Being so high tech, the tractor should maybe not let the charger start charging the battery until it was cooled to a certain temperature. Even with the charger plugged in. Great video. I sure like comparison or testing videos. Have a great day.

This is a good test because though extreme, this is where the tractor shines for cost reduction. This is where you use the burn the most $$ in fuel and where electric shines. I have an expensive electric zero turn and this is what I like about it. I can't cut as much in a day as my gas mowers, but I just needed to change my mowing behavior to grab 30-60 minutes of free time to run out, hop on the mower and mow some. These short jaunts are good because I have a few solar panels powering a portable power station that I use to charge the mower even more cheaply (if you ignore how much I spent for the battery :) ) I also find that its good to do large mows with my tractor, and then maintain the grass with the electric zero turn because if I crank up the movement speed I can cover a lot if the grass is not tall.

Thanks to the CA Voucher I'm hoping to be picking one of these up for half the cost of a similarly spac'd Kubota.

Yep,Tim you look better on the John Deere,have a blessed evening

I am all for new technology being derived in the agriculture community, new equipment is always fun and exciting to see. As time goes on yes, I understand things will change, solectrac has the right idea, but in order for it to be feasible for somebody like me that runtime would have to be drastically higher. I have an older John Deere tractor that I drive just about daily and I have put over 100 hours on it in the past year. The next thing I would like to see is how really functional is that loader on that tractor? Being electric, I would want to know if it can do the same as a diesel. It sure is quiet, that is something I like. Great Video Tim!

They need to do Like EGO Zero turn mowers . You have a bunch of smaller batteries you can take in an out easy. That way you could keep on working while the other set of batteries charge. You may want suggest that to Solectrac.

To get an idea of runtime vs. acreage in different gears, how about you finish the job in low gear. It would be interesting to see how much battery you would have left. Cheers

Hey Tammy right there by the electrical towers plug it in LOL thanks from Gary

I definitely see a segment for this

Let's face it Tim diesel is king when it comes to farming and mowing like you do. It ain't gona work.

That’s a lot of weight and moving mass an to be able to do it for 2 hours pretty much none stop. That’s really expressive an even more expressive for a first gen electric tractor.

First time viewer here Tim. Really appreciate the video is of seeing a lot of stuff lately getting released as a battery only option such as the tractor you test today and even one of the newer all-electric Bobcat skid steers. I really like that headset and microphone setup that you have. By chance could you tell me what the manufacturer is and the model by chance? Thanks again for the great video, I've also subscribed so I won't miss any more of your content.

If you time it out correctly you will have to plug it in just as the ballgame starts. Would be great for indoor use no fumes

Great video great audio sounds. Battery. Great. Training. Work electric tractor 👍

Truthfully I think this is not bad considering this is the blackberry of electric tractors. I have a small hobby farm and i seldom use my tractor for more than an hour at a time. Although im not in the market for a new tractor, this wouldn't be a bad option for me

I wonder if it would help if you removed the loader while mowing? Weight reduction.

Thanks for the video Tim& Christy ... Next time take Johnny out on a full tank and run him as hard as you did today. Be interested in the comparison

One important distinction that I think should be made here is that flail mowers take a LOT more power to run than rotary cutters (IE: bush hog, brush cutter, etc). I have a Mahindra 2638 HST with both a 5ft rotary cutter and a 5.5ft flail mower. I can run at max speed (IE: HST pedal all the way to the floor) in mid range with the rotary cutter and my engine RPM's don't drop even 100 RPM in the tallest/thickest grass. My flail mower on the other hand pulls the engine down substantially in much lighter grass even when I slow down to about half the speed of what I run with the rotary cutter. It's a MASSIVE difference. I can fly with the rotary cutter but have to really watch my speed on the flail mower. But the flail mower is doing a lot more work: It's not just cutting the grass, it's cutting it and re-cutting it over and over (mulching) If you're running a rotary cutter in these conditions I would expect the Solectrac would run 2-4 times longer (And cut 2-4 times more acreage) I second the notion of doing a dyno test on the PTO. There's no way it's only 12-14 HP. The spec sheet on the Solectrac website says the motor is 25 HP. There's no way there's that much loss to the PTO.

I enjoy the concept and would jump at the chance to ditch diesel, but in central Indiana the dealer support is lacking for a lot of equipment and Solectrac unfortunately is in that category. Thank you for sharing!

So my take is it's good for limited indoor and outdoor use and not something like shredding or heavy long-run use, if you need to to run all day the electric tractors and not ready for it, if you use them part-time just to move stuff around like a trailer then your probably ok but any real all day work not yet.

For overall battery life, the battery should not be run down to minimum. Lithium batteries last longest if you operate them between 20% and 80% - that is, at 20% you recharge to 80%... if you run min to max all the time, battery life will be shortened.

Many of my tasks are ~90 minutes, but then I have mowing jobs like you just did of ~3hr duration and a long way from a power source. I couldn't make the switch yet as much as I'd like to

It seems like that tractor struggles with extended PTO work. Is there a way that you could do a similar test with loader work and pulling that doesn't require PTO? It may give better battery life that way. 12 - 13 PTO HP is pretty low, even the BX 1880 has better PTO hp than that. This tractor has it's place for the right user but I suspect it will be a couple more generational improvements before electric tractors are entering the market to compete for the majority of buyers.

Great video and it good info on an electric tractor. Maybe it me, but when I mow with my B tractor and use a mower behind me, I always run my tire outside of the grass to be cut. You left a lot of rows of uncut grass that will extend your mowing time. A little over lap saves time in the long run. I realize mowing techniques are the purpose, just gotta say.

Not disappointed. It is sold for small farms, probably by not American standards :) I would say 10-15 acres. I have experience with e-bike. Pulling back the horses does justice for the range. I know, with the tractor the mower using more energy if we slow down. Still, my guess is more area is done! The cost most be low. I think, You used some 17 kW. How much is it? A gallon of diesel? How much would a diesel tractor use on this track? 4-5 gallons? I ask.

It seems like that particular model of electric tractor would be good for more casual work around the property, a little mowing here and there, maybe a decent size garden or even running a stationary grain auger if only for a little while at a time.

I believe the tractor has a 22kWh battery .., SOLECTRAC would option a 44kWh battery you are looking at 4 hours of straight work ..then take lunch and charge it back up for 30 minutes and that gets you a full day. They simply need to add different battery options .. great looking tractor, very very low maintence, no oil changes no diesel to deal with

So cutting the typical "front yard" pasture (3-6 acres of kept field) around here would take 2 days with that tractor? That looked like finish mower hight/thickness if it was flat, at least on video. I'm impressed with the idea, but that's a deal killer when I could do it with a 25hp diesel and use 1/4 tank of fuel in one afternoon. That's based on my opinion of what a typical tractor owner would use it for around my area. They'd have at least 3 acres to mow, along with all the other chores to complete in the day.

Thank you for taking the time and effort to document an excellent data point for all. Question - do you think there will be severe performance loss if the tractor is operated in cold weather (pushing snow with the loader)?

I'd have to say I'm disappointed in the range and how much it struggled with that flail mower. This video shows the absolute best case scenario for this machine under full load where a comparable diesel machine would be burning the most fuel. Excellent job. Now, I'm not a tractor expert by any means. I also don't care about electric vs diesel or any of that mess. I'm not a green tractor man, but green and orange are on similar price points so just a comparison: Usage per dollar is where I really have a problem with this tractor. They post right on their own website they want $29,000 for that tractor. That is $10,000+ more than a competing tractor. If your comparing to Kubota, an lx2610su would be the most fair comparison and thats the price difference. The gap opens up even wider for an L series. Or more yet on a B. For the money, you could damn near skip all the way up to an M60 for an open cab. Or keep the same size and have a cab tractor for the money. Few thousand more and you get a big bump in hp to go with it. Sure it's quiet, but that sure is alot of diesel to run through just to pay off the cost difference alone. Which at that short of a run time coupled with charge time I'm not sure it would be possible. Of course the caveat to this is that is just a comparison from one of the two most popular, and expensive brands on the market. When you start looking at othet brands like Kioti, TYM, and the rest that gap opens up even wider.

Do you think it would be better if you removed the loader? Is that even an option?

wonder if (unsure of filming ) you could after charging use it in lower gear for he rest of the mowing if it would complete it or run out of "juice" just slower ?

Hey Sir 👋 I believe they created batteries lasting 50 Years! Happened in China, so Hopefully mass production will begin soon... So that shouldn't be a problem I quess...

Being here in North Dakota, i don't think an electric tractors for large scale ag would be practical, in the current state of our agriculture industry, lot of farmers dont farm land near their houses, and pulling a large air seeder takes a lot of energy, a charger would have to be at the field especially since you wouldn't want to pull the equipment from the field anyway, weather depending, you would want to get your planting done as fast as you can, stopping to charge would be a hindrance. This test is a great model for what that might look like

What if you run the 2nd half the field in low gear to compare battery usage, temperature compared what has been completed already.

Liquid cold electronics would help greatly on some of these electric vehicles

It sounds like you are working with professor Tim Dell at Pittsburg state.

No Tks. Enjoying the channel.

You have mowed the property using Johnny5, how much fuel and how long did that take vs the Solectrac? It would seem that the Solectrac isn't ready for primetime and it has a real limit of 1 hour 45 minutes of hard runtime.

Now charging your battery will cost you more in your house . How much to replace a battery? I would stick with diesel

You're using it almost exactly my normal use case. Sad the the Solectrac isn't there yet. Hopefully soon. Why do you suppose they choose 25 HP??? don't have the emissions issue, and I want ~ 25-40Hp at the PTO.

About time they made an electric flail mower to go with the electric tractor, that would help💡

And while Tim was charging his mower back up, Christy was still going with Johnny,,, lol,,, great video Tim and Christy, as usual,,, but I still think Johnny is going to come out on top…

A battery has a fixed amount of energy just like a reservoir. If you use power faster (higher speed) it won't last as long, but you will get there faster! If you ran slower more of your power would have gone to the mower (better cut quality) and so you may not have travelled as far. And it would have obviously lasted longer.

I try and do 1.5 hours before work - with some solar panels this would be effectively be free all week. Big weekends would be a pain but just changing up the schedule and running 80/20 instead of 100/10 for battery would get more hours out of it with less charge time. We divide our paddocks up so there is long and short grass for the animals to move around so I rarely have to mow the lot at once. But compared to 6-8 hours with a flail on diesel it is way shorter and I can run a way bigger flail on it.

What would be running the other half at reduced speed, longer run time, acreage covered? Also your Thoughts on pto load using a 60 finish mower vrs the flail mower. I have never used a flail mower.

maybe you could put a couple markers where you mowed this time and try the tractor in low range next time in the same spot to see if there is much difference of size of cut field

So it seems like the HST version (as long as it doesn't eat all of the power by itself) might be the way to go? Its kind of disappointing that they didn't just add a few extra gears to the manual....

This could be considered a 'recreational vehicle' if 2hrs is all it has for duty. I thought Tractors were a tool that in the end provides profit as a outcome of usage. Well, the future doesn't look like anyone will be getting a full 40 hr paycheck. I have been grading my 1 acre ural home landscape for the last two days and running My Honda 6522 loader with a 5 ft. rake and working it hard(brutal winter washout). A 1/4 tank of fuel with a 5 gallon capacity, 6.5 hrs total run time in two days, diesel was $4.33/gal. which comes out to .98c/hr. I never heard a charge time and I doubt a fast charger system is being used(they cost around $30-$40,000 if service panel capacity is even possible). The last one I saw installed in a home was a 60 amp circuit also! Thats a huge load, more than two modern Central AC's operating! The irony is the charging station is fed by either Natural Gas or Coal Power Plants with Millions of Horsepower capabilities to drive generators to sustain the basic grid. This electric tractor couldn't even do a clean job, that was a horrible cut with limited gear/speed/hp ratio. I guess one could always pull a diesel generator behind for reliability! Haah ha, Lol.

Interesting. I do know the both of you put in a lot of before and after work to produce these videos. Thanks! We are 100 years ago when the Model T came out. Long way to go. No one is coming to your farm and taking your tractor from your cold dead hands LOL Relax everyone. Gas will be around for a long time yet, 100 years. Roger Penske remarked a couple months back on this. I've had my 2032R for 2 years 2 months. I have 98 hours on it. I get called all kinds of names for not being a true "farmer" or true "working my land and getting my hands dirty" and etc. Whatever on that nonsense. It's a tool, that's all it is and Tim and Christy provide data and real world examples. I am interested in the EV Zero Turn and Gator next! Quiet and no fumes is what I am after while using equipment :-) Don't let the turkeys get you down :-)

0:33 Side note: Tim or Christy take time to edit the color of the logo to match the tractor in the video. Nice touch.

I’ll throw in my .02 here. I ran pretty large electric mining machines in an underground setting. One thing you had to watch was a formula displayed that was a measurement of temperature over time. If the machine ran too hot for too long it would trip the breaker and you would need to wait for it to cool off, so you would need to take it easy on occasion to keep it running cool. I think you may have kept the tractor a little over taxed a little too long and sacrificed some run time due to the heat and strain you were placing on the electric motor based on the temperatures you were talking about. Let me give you an analogy to describe what I’m talking about. If you want to cover 5 miles walking you can do it. It takes you a long time, but possible. If you try to run it in a sprint, you’ll likely get tired and need to stop to rest. A jog is a compromise, but the most efficient way is to run for short periods with a period of less efficient walking, but you’re still covering ground. Electric motor temp works the same way. In your video of you mowing, you may find you run medium range for a few passes, and as temp rises you run a pass or 2 in low to keep the temp in check.

Great video Tim. I’ve been looking into these tractors and how they work. It’s obviously a “proof of concept” type machine. They are definitely not optimized for electric. But that’s ok because it’s a machine in its infancy you might say. I will say that the battery is a little disappointing, but I also think you’re right that the mower may be a touch too big for the machine. However I think if it was providing the 18+ HP a normal 25/26HP tractor puts out the PTO. It would probably be a nonissue. That 12-13HP PTO is incredibly disappointing. That’s less than a BX1880. Which is only an 18HP tractor. And I think we’d all like to see it on a dyno to get some numbers.

I ran some numbers last year and in order to have a 100hp actual farm tractor you'd need to swap out an 8 ton battery every 40 minutes... with safe recharge times you'd need to have 15 batteries just to get 10 hours of work done and would likely want 20. This doesn't include the fuel cost of bringing the batteries out into the field with a truck strong enough to mount and dismount 8 ton batteries (includes housing and frame weight) and the fuel cost of charging those batteries. The infrastructure and batteries alone necessary to run a 100hp tractor 10 hours a day would cost more than the fuel necessary to run a 200hp tractor 14 hours a day _not including damage, losses, repair, maintenance and filtration_ the latter being one of the reasons electric tractors just aren't an actual option. The amount of power the filtration and blowers for COOLING the motors in a tractor consume is about 12% of the battery capacity itself. These aren't cars that can be made stupid efficient to travel at speed, these are tractors that are going to be running in the Plaid zone hour on hour every day. What a lot of people don't realize about tractors is they spend 75% of their life sitting so idle that you have to install battery cut-off switches just to keep the batteries from going dead-short flat. 80% of the lifespan of any set of battery modules you'd make for a tractor would be expended sitting idle decaying. So what are the options? Draglines are out because there's simply no way for a power plant to operate "only" for tractors with it going to hundreds of megawatts at 5am then tapering off to nill at 2am again and after transmission and conversion losses a tractor would draw more than a kilowatt per horsepower. Basically we'd be back to synthetic diesel fuel again because it's cheaper, more reliable and better for the environment.

The EV technology is close, but it's not there yet for the heavy workloads. That goes for trucks, mowers, or tractors. It may be something to look at in a few years, but at the moment, it can't compete imo.

I don't know about electric vehicles. But I do know when it comes to cordless power tools that if the battery pack is too hot the charger will not charge the battery until it has cooled off for a bit. Putting a hot battery pack directly onto the charger after using it puts the charger into a protect mode and it will flash with the led lights the signal for a over heated battery pack. If this Solectrac and electric cars all use lithium battery packs like power tools do the chargers probably have a protect mode as well if they get too hot. The last thing you want is your expensive tractor exploding or catching fire due to stressed batteries. :)

An idea I just thought of, the pump for the power steering should have an auto on/off. Have it turn on when the steering wheels is turned to a certain degree and off when going straight.

2 hours of hard work is woefully inadequate for most of us😮. Especially given the recharge down time. I could do that work on about 2-3 gallons of diesel and had more PTO Hp.

It would be nice on a small hobby farm 3 to 5 acres but it doesn't work for myself I at least 8+hours hard use I'll stay with my kubota 3800 diesel powered

17.56 Tim the battery temp at 37 is 1 degree hotter than the human body, that's pathetic if the machine is showing red at that, that's a normal summer day in Australia, i could put my hand on steel that temp and keep it there all day.