[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

If the Demoncrats vote for this, will they vote for more POWER PLANTS????

[TXnMA]

Electric farm tractors?

Sounds like they're inhaling smoke in La-La land again -- but it ain't from Diesels...

[TXnMA]

Electric farm tractors?

Sounds like they're inhaling smoke in La-La land again -- but it ain't from Diesels...

[Robert A Cook PE]

HUH?

Yeah, right.

And how many batteries is it going to take to to plow/rake/seed/turn under a field several DOZEN square miles in area?

And when are the farmers going to find TIME to recharge these extremely heavy batteries (which, I suppose, aren't going to cause their "new" tractors and mowers and seeding machines (couple of hundred thousand apiece!) to bog down in the dirt)? Besides, conversion (utility power) to low-volt AC/to DC/to DC- battery charge/DC current from teh battery/DC power to the motor/motor power to the wheels .... will NOT be more efficient than a high torgue current diesel. No thought. No science. No economics. No engineering. Pure emotion. Pure democrat. (And free government electricity (er, hot air) powering all of it.)

[NormsRevenge]

Better buy some stock in extension cord and battery manufacturers. 8-\

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[U S Army EOD]

Screw it, lets just go back to steam.

[Voltage]

Here is an idea...grow corn, ferment it, distill, burn the alcohol in the tractors and pumps, repeat until bankrupt.

[76834]

Correct me if I am wrong. This idiot wants all farmers to stop using diesel and start using elect.
Where does he think elect comes from. Power plants, mostly coal fired, and where do they get the coal?
Mines of course, mined by diesel powered equiptment, moved from the mine to the power plant by diesel locomotives.

Amazing aint it

[Amerigomag]

The title of this article is misleading.

This is about PG&E and their rate structure for agricultural water pumps. This is not about electric tractors and converted golf carts.

This is an attempt to lower electric rates for farmers. Pollution reduction is only a pleasant benefit if you don't consider the pollution created by the production of the power.

At this point in time, the available generation capacity and the grid to deliver power to these ag pumps will push the system over the edge in times of high commercial/residential use.

[Cagey]

"Gotta get these apples to market before they spoil."

[tubebender]

Please don't tell anyone that my sister and her husband got a FREE diesel engine in their Ford tractor that cost someone $25,000. I suspect they are now looking for a grant to plant a row of Palm Trees like the ones in the photo.

JA...what is the standby fee for a 30 HP pump used on a 30 acre vineyard? I know it has gone up significantly...

[Kirkwood]

Wonder why they didn't go after busses? Gee, I've always heard those dirty stinking busses that cause traffic to back up every rush hour don't pollute at all! They have flowers coming out of their exhaust pipe. It is all of those nasty gasoline powered cars that must meet emissions standards that are killing us.

Wait, next they will be going after semi tractor trailers. Idiots.

[blackdog]

I'm sure Jennifer M. Spitzenberger is an agricultural correspondent? She grew sprouts once on her window sill.

Newsrooms and newspapers would serve us better by crushing their fax machines forever. Maybe then instead of printing spoon fed press releases as news, Ms. Fitzenberger might have to venture out from behind her desk once in a while for something other than a latte'.

[joesnuffy]

Replace diesel tractors with electric motors?
Batteries the size of barns

[joesnuffy]

Replace diesel tractors with electric motors?
Batteries the size of barns

[joesnuffy]

Replace diesel tractors with electric motors?
Batteries the size of barns

[taildragger]

3 solutions:

Burn Bio-Diesel.

Or add a set of these Pistons: www.sonexresearch.com

A third solution is a technology that Mercury Marine is working on. They have taken there Direct Injected "Optimax" 2 Stroke Outboards and have converted them to run on JP-5 for Special Ops Boats, They burn real clean except smell funny according to what I have read.

[Skibane]

Danny Johnson, customer service manager for Southern California Edison, likened supply charges to leasing a car: "Just because you have the car doesn't mean you only pay to drive it on the days you drive it."

Right, but I only have to buy gasoline for it when I actually drive it...