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I grew up in California, where rain was less of an issue and most landscapers I saw used open-bed pickups with all their tools. I'm currently in Oregon, most la

I grew up in California, where rain was less of an issue and most landscapers I saw used open-bed pickups with all their tools. I'm currently in Oregon, most landscapers use box trailers to house everything here, which I think might be key to this. I saw an entertaining Youtuber with a "Solar powered" landscaping business in Florida, using a box truck with a hybrid inverter/solar charge controller/battery system, to recharge his lawn powertools while driving between jobs. I see this as a much more practical solution that just having enough of "proprietary company X" battery. Keep your batteries charging 24/7 while working, essentially. Toss some solar if the climate affords it on top to charge the larger batteries used for your inverter up. Plug in the entire trailer when you get home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93F08kdiOfE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93F08kdiOfE

londons_explore 3y ago
Cover a workmans truck roof in solar, and you'll only get 1-2 kWh per day in good weather. Thats nowhere near enough for a crew of workers using leafblowers - which can be around 1 kw each. Weed wackers and lawnmowers are the same or more. It is plenty for a crew of builders using impact drivers, drills, screwdrivers, nail guns, etc. though. However, if the truck is electric, with a 100kWh battery, the 10-20 kWh used by the workers equipment during the day is a pretty small chunk of the total range.
- Kon-Peki 3y ago
  Ford F150 hybrid (or even the full-electric version) can provide all the electricity needed to charge the spare batteries in the trailer while the crew is working with the main batteries. Sound is barely above truck idle, way way below the gas-powered equipment noise. The problem in my area is that an F150 is just not manly enough. Gotta have the F250 or F350. Heck, just the other day I saw a landscaper in my neighborhood using an F450 to haul his 1000 pound box trailer around.
  - dylan604 3y ago
    To be fair, do you know what else they are using that truck for when it's not within your eye sight? Maybe they are pulling larger trailers and equipment, but this day it only needed to pull the small trailer. Also, you act like it is the landscaper's problem for driving the trucks. We haven't even mentioned that fleet deals can be made for the larger trucks so they are actually cheaper than the F150 pricing. That leaves the F150 inventory for the soccer moms. As if it is a single button that needs to be pushed to "solve"
    - bigDinosaur 3y ago
      I have to admit, while the US is technically richer I feel like the country is constantly plumbing the depths of decreasing livability for everyone else by insistence on things like gigantic trucks. The reality is that people usually aren't using them to haul big loads and in fact, due to how heavy the cars are themselves, actually are quite bad at hauling big loads. If challenged on why they need a vehicle of such size, of course suddenly they're hauling multiple tons around every evening.
      - kbelder 3y ago
        It doesn't matter what they usually do. It just matters what they occasionally do. For hauling, or range, or number of passengers... people don't buy a vehicle that satisfies their average daily requirements. They buy one that satisfies all the requirements they expect to encounter.
        bigDinosaur 3y ago
        It would make far more sense to spend less and simply rent for the 99th percentile use (which btw most people probably actually never use). The issue with these big trucks is severe negative externalities for other road users and pedestrians - if that didn't exist I would not care at all if people wasted money. Also these big trucks have really sucky hauling capacity, it's actually a weird part about them that few people seem to note (and confirms my suspicion most people get them for other reasons).
- raisedbyninjas 3y ago
  The youtuber got 4-5kWh per day on his trailer. It looked like enough to supply most of his needs (all equipment is electric including a zero turn radius ride-on mower). He's only a one-man crew though. A 3-4 man crew would need a different equipment config.
  - jhenkens 3y ago
    Yeah - I think that is one of the critical pieces in his setup. He can have a (relatively) modest amount of batteries, and cycle through them as he's using all his tools one by one. In a big crew, where each stop every tool is being used non-stop for 30 minutes, then 10 minutes drive to the next home to repeat, batteries won't be able to charge enough. You'd probably need 3x the batteries in that case (which, per-person, is roughly the same I guess).
- pixl97 3y ago
  You watch the Edison Motors shorts on Youtube? They are making a hybrid diesel electric semi that uses the diesel as a generator. They are getting a lot of inquires from the large work truck related industries because of the capabilities to be a large power source without having to constantly run the engine.
  - p1mrx 3y ago
    I skimmed through a bunch of Edison Motors videos, and this was the most informative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an6e2Lh9u58 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an6e2Lh9u58
Hasz 3y ago
The easy solution is an inverter connected to any truck or van's alternator. Solar does not have energy density to realistically work.
- hedora 3y ago
  Also, contractors can mandate access to an outdoor AC outlet while they work. It’s cleaner power than ICE alternator -> inverter, and also cheaper for the contractors. Anyway EGo has a whole day backpack battery for this use case. Not sure how heavy/sweaty/uncomfortable it is, but it lets the tools be much, much lighter than ICE versions.

londons_explore 3y ago

Cover a workmans truck roof in solar, and you'll only get 1-2 kWh per day in good weather. Thats nowhere near enough for a crew of workers using leafblowers - which can be around 1 kw each. Weed wackers and lawnmowers are the same or more. It is plenty for a crew of builders using impact drivers, drills, screwdrivers, nail guns, etc. though. However, if the truck is electric, with a 100kWh battery, the 10-20 kWh used by the workers equipment during the day is a pretty small chunk of the total range.

Kon-Peki 3y ago
Ford F150 hybrid (or even the full-electric version) can provide all the electricity needed to charge the spare batteries in the trailer while the crew is working with the main batteries. Sound is barely above truck idle, way way below the gas-powered equipment noise. The problem in my area is that an F150 is just not manly enough. Gotta have the F250 or F350. Heck, just the other day I saw a landscaper in my neighborhood using an F450 to haul his 1000 pound box trailer around.
- dylan604 3y ago
  To be fair, do you know what else they are using that truck for when it's not within your eye sight? Maybe they are pulling larger trailers and equipment, but this day it only needed to pull the small trailer. Also, you act like it is the landscaper's problem for driving the trucks. We haven't even mentioned that fleet deals can be made for the larger trucks so they are actually cheaper than the F150 pricing. That leaves the F150 inventory for the soccer moms. As if it is a single button that needs to be pushed to "solve"
  - bigDinosaur 3y ago
    I have to admit, while the US is technically richer I feel like the country is constantly plumbing the depths of decreasing livability for everyone else by insistence on things like gigantic trucks. The reality is that people usually aren't using them to haul big loads and in fact, due to how heavy the cars are themselves, actually are quite bad at hauling big loads. If challenged on why they need a vehicle of such size, of course suddenly they're hauling multiple tons around every evening.
    - kbelder 3y ago
      It doesn't matter what they usually do. It just matters what they occasionally do. For hauling, or range, or number of passengers... people don't buy a vehicle that satisfies their average daily requirements. They buy one that satisfies all the requirements they expect to encounter.
      - bigDinosaur 3y ago
        It would make far more sense to spend less and simply rent for the 99th percentile use (which btw most people probably actually never use). The issue with these big trucks is severe negative externalities for other road users and pedestrians - if that didn't exist I would not care at all if people wasted money. Also these big trucks have really sucky hauling capacity, it's actually a weird part about them that few people seem to note (and confirms my suspicion most people get them for other reasons).
raisedbyninjas 3y ago
The youtuber got 4-5kWh per day on his trailer. It looked like enough to supply most of his needs (all equipment is electric including a zero turn radius ride-on mower). He's only a one-man crew though. A 3-4 man crew would need a different equipment config.
- jhenkens 3y ago
  Yeah - I think that is one of the critical pieces in his setup. He can have a (relatively) modest amount of batteries, and cycle through them as he's using all his tools one by one. In a big crew, where each stop every tool is being used non-stop for 30 minutes, then 10 minutes drive to the next home to repeat, batteries won't be able to charge enough. You'd probably need 3x the batteries in that case (which, per-person, is roughly the same I guess).
pixl97 3y ago
You watch the Edison Motors shorts on Youtube? They are making a hybrid diesel electric semi that uses the diesel as a generator. They are getting a lot of inquires from the large work truck related industries because of the capabilities to be a large power source without having to constantly run the engine.
- p1mrx 3y ago
  I skimmed through a bunch of Edison Motors videos, and this was the most informative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an6e2Lh9u58 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an6e2Lh9u58

Hasz 3y ago

The easy solution is an inverter connected to any truck or van's alternator. Solar does not have energy density to realistically work.

hedora 3y ago
Also, contractors can mandate access to an outdoor AC outlet while they work. It’s cleaner power than ICE alternator -> inverter, and also cheaper for the contractors. Anyway EGo has a whole day backpack battery for this use case. Not sure how heavy/sweaty/uncomfortable it is, but it lets the tools be much, much lighter than ICE versions.