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Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

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Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#291

Post by throwaway85825 »

flyinghamster wrote: post #210
RajT88 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if we'll see a repeat of what happened in the 60's and 70's: American car companies didn't want to make small and cheap fuel efficient cars, so an upstart (Japanese automakers) came in with exactly that and stole their lunch money. These days, the big foreign manufacturers are all in the same game as the domestic ones - software nonsense. Tariffs are keeping other foreign competition out at the moment, so it…

Seeing all the gigantic and very-high-priced Pavement Princess Pickups clogging dealer lots, it's plain that the auto industry in general didn't learn a damn thing. It's easy to point fingers in all directions, but it always ends up that we get the worst outcomes.

The auto industry is just responding to incentives, the EPA makes it way easier to hit emissions targets the larger the vehicle.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#292

Post by throwaway85825 »

throwa356262 wrote: post #269
boplicity wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cloudflare is increasingly a problem in terms of blocking huge geographic regions, often without the website operators even being aware this is happening. All in the name of "security."

Well, at least you are not in Spain. https://community.cloudflare.com/t/website-inaccessible-from...

The Spanish government no longer had to care about the consequences of their actions since they found a new voting block.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#293

Post by monooso »

tandr wrote: post #259
KaiserPro wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.telotrucks.com/ is pretty much that Cheap, fast enough, practical, goofey looking.

by the looks of it... any front collision == instant death?

I know nothing about automobile design, but the Smart Fortwo [1] seemed to solve this problem just fine (IIRC they had a very good NCAP safety rating).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Fortwo

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#294

Post by bluGill »

fragmede wrote: post #87
jcgrillo wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do you separate them? Mandate common interfaces and open hardware. I shouldn't have to buy a $10k dongle to sniff codes. I certainly shouldn't have to buy a different one for each manufacturer.

The legislation has to be robust. No dice if the dongle is generic and $20 like OBD2 in cars, but that on top of that there's a per-manufacturer set of codes that only licensed dealers have access to the software to read those special codes.

Most of the codes on a large tractor are j1939. You still want the manufacture database because it often says 'x sensor voltage out of range - check the wiring harness in some not obvious location'

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#295

Post by quickthrowman »

wolttam wrote: post #17
9rx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those buying new don't care about repairs. They were never going to do the warrantee work themselves anyway. Those buying on the used market have more reason to care about repairs, but used buyers are beholden to what new buyers purchased in the past.

The existence of this startup and their early demand seems to refute your point.

If I was a farmer and wanted a low-tech tractor that would be reliable into the future, why would I gamble on a startup when I could buy a Kubota tractor from a company that has been in business for 136 years, with an established dealer and parts network? I would certainly opt for the Kubota.

I’m not a farmer, but sometimes I sell generators. Even today, some specs only allow CAT and Cummins, even though Generac and Kohler have been around for decades and are perfectly good options, they haven’t been around as long as CAT and Cummins.

When purchasing capital equipment, some customers want to buy from a company with some longevity instead of a random startup, even if it costs more.

I’m always highly skeptical of startups in mature industries like farming (~10,000 years old, or hundreds of years for mechanized agriculture) with many established players already operating. I saw an article in the last year or two about a small directional boring machine from a startup company that claimed to be advancing the industry, but multiple manufacturers like Ditch Witch already manufacture and sell the exact same piece of equipment, they’re just not claiming to be revolutionary to attract investor capital.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#296

Post by ErroneousBosh »

adamcharnock wrote: post #134

Up until a year ago I was regularly using a Massy Fergusson 135 [0] (Perkins Diesel version), made sometime in the 1970s. It was wonderful! So amazing to drive and use. Clunky and heavy, but you really really felt like you were using a machine. In low gears, if you put you foot down on the accelerator the engine would roar, and your speed would barely change! And there was no fancy technology in it at all. If I was i…

I loved the MF 135 my neighbour had. It was great. The injector pump had failed and we'd swapped it with one off a marine version of the Perkins AD3, which had a reasonably "opened up" governor on it. Flat it out could do a whopping 20mph!

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#297

Post by m463 »

adamcharnock wrote: post #134

Up until a year ago I was regularly using a Massy Fergusson 135 [0] (Perkins Diesel version), made sometime in the 1970s. It was wonderful! So amazing to drive and use. Clunky and heavy, but you really really felt like you were using a machine. In low gears, if you put you foot down on the accelerator the engine would roar, and your speed would barely change! And there was no fancy technology in it at all. If I was i…

I remember when I was young seeing a combine that had a radio and television in the cab. wow!

Now things have wrapped back around, and nobody would want that, they want less tech and to use their phone, lol.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#299

Post by m463 »

userbinator wrote: post #243
adamcharnock wrote: post #134

Up until a year ago I was regularly using a Massy Fergusson 135 [0] (Perkins Diesel version), made sometime in the 1970s. It was wonderful! So amazing to drive and use. Clunky and heavy, but you really really felt like you were using a machine. In low gears, if you put you foot down on the accelerator the engine would roar, and your speed would barely change! And there was no fancy technology in it at all. If I was i…

with a spanner in one hand and YouTube into the other There are so many useful videos on this stuff, but unfortunately the majority of the population still seems reluctant to learn.

I think this kind of thing is much more commonplace than you think.

Never underestimate a young person and their phone. They not only use youtube or chatgpt to solve daily problems, but date, pay bills, and communicate with their friends using mostly videos/photos/emojis (and occasionally english).

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#300

Post by arein3 »

cout wrote: post #217
iamcalledrob wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd imagine it depends what kind of emissions you're measuring? Are we talking air quality or climate change? Two stroke engines are pretty terrible in terms of unburned hydrocarbons and are disgusting for local air quality, which is why I'm glad they're being phased out in many areas. I'd expect these tractors with I6 diesel engines to run pretty efficiently. I'd bet that the CO2 emissions from tractors are tiny in…

Lawnmowers are usually four-stroke, with two-stroke engines reserved for lighter tools like string trimmers and chainsaws. I would still guess that lawnmowers produce more emissions overall, given that there are so many more mowers than tractors. But they get used less often than tractors, so who knows? Either way, I agree with your thinking process, that the most economical way to reduce overall emissions is to focu…

For tools electric is the answer. To take a chainsaw, the battery needs to be replaced just as often as with refilling the fuel tank. And with newer batteries you might recharge the depleted one as fast as discharging a fresh one. Not sure, just an assumption.

The future for tools is electric 100%.

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