I’ve conducted a ton of interesting interviews with cleantech leaders on Cleantech Talk, but I honestly think one of the most interesting and informative of those was an interview with Solectrac founder and CEO Stephen Heckeroth (alongside a couple of execs from Ideanomics after they bought a 15% stake in the company). The news now is that you can reserve one of its electric tractors for just $1000. Before getting to that, I do highly recommend listening to that podcast interview if you missed it the first time.
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The $1000 reservation deposit is down from 50% of the cost of the tractor. “We’ve decided to decrease the initial deposit to allow customers to express their interest and intent. This is good for our customers and good for our production line,” said Heckeroth.
With investments from Ideanomics and a crowdfunding campaign, Solectrac has been able to ramp up its production capacity.
There are two tractors open for reservations, “its 40 HP-equivalent eUtility tractor and the 4-wheel drive 30 HP-equivalent compact electric tractor (CET).” The former comes at a base cost of $45,000, with add-ons that can bring it up to $75,000. Here are the options:
Screenshot from Solectrac.com
A full list of the specs is here.
Then there’s the latter, the smaller CET. That one starts at $25,800, with add-ons bringing it as high as $33,000.
Screenshot from Solectrac.com
Here’s the full specs sheet for this compact electric tractor.
Here’s more of Solectrac’s pitch on why to go electric:
“Both tractors are built to outperform their diesel counterparts by eliminating exhaust and noise and with the benefit of instant torque at low RPM. Solectrac tractors accommodate existing implements and are perfectly suited for farm and utility operations, as well as in livestock and equestrian environments where noise is an important consideration. Additionally, the low noise level and absence of exhaust makes electric tractors desirable in any environment by improving workers’ health and safety.
“Solectrac’s electric tractors can be charged either from the utility grid or from renewable energy, like solar and wind. Electricity is cheaper than diesel fuel and Solectrac tractors only have one moving part in the motor. Consequently, maintenance and fuel cost over the lifetime of the electric tractor is estimated to be one-third that of a diesel tractor. Using solar or wind energy in the charging infrastructure completely eliminates fossil fuel inputs thereby reducing the users’ carbon footprint and helping meet climate goals.”
Image courtesy Solectrac.
Image courtesy Solectrac.
A clean, quiet, efficient, reliable electric tractor sure sounds like jingling gold to me. I hope to see some popping sales numbers for this zero-emissions solution for large fields of fresh air.
I know we have at least a few farmers who read CleanTechnica. What do you all think of these electric tractors?
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