3 ms·

That's like comparing a Camry to a Deere -- you'd redesign the entire vehicle for peak & nominal loads. Going from a 4,000 lb tesla to a 25,000 lb tractor, you

That's like comparing a Camry to a Deere -- you'd redesign the entire vehicle for peak & nominal loads. Going from a 4,000 lb tesla to a 25,000 lb tractor, you'd accumulate significant additional battery mass & completely redesign EV systems (motors, controllers, batteries, charge paths, etc). A more apt comparison would be the Tesla Semi. While you're at it... it might be worth completely re-thinking the problem in light of semi-autonomy. E.g. if you're going to have recharge periods, a fleet of 3x 8000-lb semi-autonomous robots might be preferable to a single 25,000 lb tractor (since labor is no longer a consideration). This also has benefits for soil compaction. YMMV.

bluGill 6y ago
> a fleet of 3x 8000-lb semi-autonomous robots might be preferable to a single 25,000 lb tractor (since labor is no longer a consideration). This also has benefits for soil compaction. Actually this is false. Turns out soil compaction is NOT linear with weight. Your 8000lbs tractor making 3 passes compacts the soil across 3 sets of tire tracks, the 1 25000lbs tractor does about 10% more compaction in the one set of tire tracks, but no compaction at all for the other 2 where there are not tires at all. This is why tracks end up worse then tires in the real world: same 10% less compaction, but you lose all the gains at the end of the row when you turn and now the tracks compact a lot more ground.