• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • r ranson
  • Timothy Norton
  • Jay Angler
stewards:
  • AndrĂ©s Bernal
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Anne Miller
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • M Ljin
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • thomas rubino

Solar tractors - brands, experience, and recommendations

 
gardener
Posts: 527
Location: Rocky Mountains, USA
318
homeschooling forest garden building writing woodworking homestead
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Just putting this out there because I am looking for a tractor for my homestead and I'm sure others are too.
I'm talking in the range 5-50 acres - not a backyard, but not a huge commercial farming operation.

Here are some options I've come across:
SolecTrac - very popular. Probably the most like a traditional tractor.
Nesher - little guy who is a Chinese product importer. Probably the cheapest option.
Multi-One - tons of attachments, plus cool extending boom
Avant - tons of attachments

Or is it worth taking the time to build one?
https://permies.com/t/35742/Wheaton-Laboratories-Electric-Tractor
https://permies.com/t/2741/electric-tractor

Other options most welcome!
Also really eager to hear about peoples' experiences with their electric tractor!
 
gardener
Posts: 1668
Location: Proebstel, Washington, USDA Zone 6B
1048
3
wheelbarrows and trailers kids trees earthworks woodworking
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
That's a good question. It is interesting that a lot of these are looking more like a skid-steer than a traditional tractor.  Which makes sense because they are mostly doing the job of a skid-steer or forklift in a lot of cases. I've got a collection of three-point, PTO driven implements. So I would go for the Solectrac. But for someone looking primarily for a loader, the new style could be perfect.
 
Jeremy VanGelder
gardener
Posts: 1668
Location: Proebstel, Washington, USDA Zone 6B
1048
3
wheelbarrows and trailers kids trees earthworks woodworking
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
This made me wonder. There are a lot of products that let you add a pallet fork to a tractor. But there are a ton of electric forklifts out there. Have people tried to add a bucket or other tractor types of attachments to an electric forklift before?

I see there are buckets for boom-lifts:

Haugen Bucket


Titan Attachments makes a dump bucket for forklifts:

Titan Dump Bucket

And there is a company that just makes snowplows for forklifts:

Chinook fork plow
 
K Eilander
gardener
Posts: 527
Location: Rocky Mountains, USA
318
homeschooling forest garden building writing woodworking homestead
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Update:
Found a review video with many other potential brands to explore and with prices (sadly, not electric tho).

 
K Eilander
gardener
Posts: 527
Location: Rocky Mountains, USA
318
homeschooling forest garden building writing woodworking homestead
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Saw a new electric tractor conversion project uploaded this week.
 
Pay attention! Tiny ad!
The new permaculture playing cards kickstarter is now live!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/garden-cards
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic