Rich Grise wrote:

Pete C. wrote:
Karl Townsend wrote:
On Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:27:49 -0700, "azotic"

Came across this and thought it might interest some of
the metal manglers that lurk about.

http://xlhybrids.com/products/conversion

Seems like this would be a fairly simple project for
most moderatley equiped shops. The only difficultly
would be sourcing the electric motor and inverter to run
it. An old laptop with some MCU development software
to control the motor would be intresting to experiment
with.

Seems to me an HSM type should take on a tractor. Either a garden unit
at say 10hp. or a small utility at 25hp. Weight and space aren't
serious problems with these. Makes fabrication far easier. Run time
isn't that long per charge so the battery pack doesn't need to be
huge.

My plates too full already, or I'd be on here finding a power EE type
to make it happen. I'm a bit surprised an electric garden tractor
isn't being sold. It would satisfy the yuppies need to say they are
going green.

Run your existing diesel tractor on bio or wvo and be "green" with a lot
less hassle and without getting stuck mid job in the field with a dead
battery.

From what I've read about biodiesel from used deep-fryer oil from all
the fast-food joints, has anybody jumped on that? Buy a truck, go around
and haul their used oil away - AFAIK, they currently have to pay to have
it hauled away - filter it, maybe crack it a little, and make a fortune
selling it at two bucks a gallon!

Anybody got any opinions, or, heaven forbid, actual facts about this
one way or the other? ;-)

Thanks!
Rich

Lots of people have been collecting WVO from small restaurants for
diesel engine use for years. The big restaurants do not pay to have
their waste oil taken away, they have contracts with companies that pay
them to collect the WVO in the large quantities they produce and recycle
it for various uses. The big restaurants have big WVO tanks to collect
the oil and store it until there is enough for a practical pickup,
something the small restaurants don't generally have and why they don't
have collection contracts.