Drew Gailius taught himself welding and metal working to complement his heavy duty mechanics training when he was servicing logging equipment on Vancouver Island. He took those skills with him when he and his wife bought a 40 acre farm in Creston, B.C. where they grow organic hard spring wheat, spelt and rye sold through CSA, as well as a market garden.
“We try to practice eco agriculture,” says Drew. Indeed, the farm has used working horses in the past. He read an article about solar tractors by John Horn in Maine. Horn talks about ‘peak oil’; we are going to run out eventually. “I don’t so much subscribe to that as I believe that we should try to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels,” Drew explains. “I think we are going to run out of environment.”
“I thought, I’ll build one of these solar tractors,” says Drew. And so he did, taking the better
Drew’s electric tractor on the farm: cultivating, spreading manure, charging the batteries via roof mounted solar panels.
part of a fall, winter and spring. He started with an early 50s Massey Harris machine that he describes as, “a basket case.” “It was free,” he says. “It had no motor, which was fine because that’s where I wanted to put the batteries. But I had to basically take it all apart and rebuild it.”
The result is a working, solar charged, 10 horse electric machine that can do the better part of a full day’s work. “It depends how hard I am working it, Drew points out. “I can get through three hours of raking hay on a sunny morning, leave it to charge over lunch and run it again through the afternoon.”
“It’s really quite pleasant to work,” Drew muses. "It’s quiet, there’s no exhaust fumes and I can run it inside the barn, there’s no hot air coming off the motor and the solar panels give plenty of shade.”
There are two rows of 4 Trojan T105 6 volt deep cycle batteries wedged into the former engine compartment. “I chose them because they are a common battery and come at a good price,” explains Drew.
The 48 volt DC motor is mounted on the undercarriage below the driver’s seat. A cog belt
Drew’s electric tractor on the farm: cultivating, spreading manure, charging the batteries via roof mounted solar panels.
drive connects it to the drive shaft and the converter is linked to the former gas pedal. Drew still uses the gears. “I guess I could just have one, although it makes it easier to do heavy work when I can put it in a low gear.”
Three 250 watt solar panels manufactured by “Solar World” charge the batteries. “That’s one of the things that have come down in price,” he says. “When I built they were $600, now they are down around $300.”
One of the modifications he had to make was to install a 3-point hitch for attachments (the tractor didn’t have one) and a 48 volt hydraulic pump to raise and lower the hitch.
Drew says the approximate cost for components (the tractor was scrap so it was free) was $5,000. Today’s cost would probably be similar as some component prices have gone up and some have dropped.
Besides the hay rake, Drew works a potato digger, a 2,600 pound level roller and a ground driven manure spreader. “I spread 35 loads of manure over three days last week,” he says. He has a tool bar that he uses for a hiller, cultivator and weeder to work his one acre market garden. An inverter mounted on the front of the tractor allows him to run an electric chain saw for cutting firewood.
“I’ve had no break downs in three years,” says Drew. “But the batteries do need a lot of
Drew’s electric tractor on the farm: cultivating, spreading manure, charging the batteries via roof mounted solar panels.
maintenance. You can’t let them run down and you have to charge them up if you are going to leave them.”
“I'm very happy with the tractor’s performance and capabilities,” says Drew. “The only thing that I would like to do is change the batteries to lithium-ion which would give me a much greater range, possibly three to four times my present range.” He says he will continue to use the lead-acid batteries until they need replacement. “At that point I hope new batteries (lithium-ion) will be more affordable.”
The parts come off the shelf. “The guys at EV Drives in Port Townsend, Washington are really helpful,” says Drew and invites “serious” readers to contact him for more information at fullcirclefarm@shaw.ca
His next project? Drew has a micro hydro plant on order that will work with the farm’s gravity fed water system.
- Tom Walker