Hello everyone,
Been reading through every tractor thread I can find. I would just like to run my plan past everyone before I start spending money.
I'm starting an off grid organic veg farm, currently massively fossil fuel dependant, with a petrol generator, irrigation pump, massey Ferguson 135 tractor, diesel van. My first step to electrification is going to be to buy a big battery, followed by photovoltaic panels.
I figure, for the price of a used forklift truck battery, I might as well buy a whole electric forklift, which I will then use to electrify an old tractor. I'm thinking I will get an old 35/135 (as I know them inside out), and something like a 2-3 ton forklift.
My concerns are about what I might reasonably expect from my electric tractor. I don't think I will ever fully replace my diesel tractor. Occasionally I work my 34kw engine pretty hard for over 8 hours. If I could get a decent amount of light cultivation, move a trailer around, run a chipper, etc, I would be happy. It's often sunny when I need to use the tractor, so I think it is worth my doing some kind of hot swap battery arrangement (which would mean buying a second battery at some point) which could solve all my issues around run time and battery capacity, as long as my PV array is big enough to keep up.
I think a lot of those old forklift motors work well in the 500-2000 rpm range, but I am concerned about how much power I am going to loose. Those motors seem to rate under 10kw. For the people who have done this, can you, say, run a flail mower for an hour without burning out the motor?