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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

#731

Post by etskinner »

mohamedkoubaa wrote: post #420
caymanjim wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. What law requires tracking software, touch screens, and vendor-lock-in for automobiles? I disbelieve there is anything preventing the commercial sale so long as it has the minimum safety standards and roadworthiness. Costs money to get everything certified, but it doesn't have to also be enshittified.

Backup cameras are required by law, among other things

Backup cameras don't require touchscreens, they just require a screen in general. Lots of makes are getting by with just putting a little 3" screen in the rear view mirror or similar

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

#732

Post by etskinner »

KaiserPro wrote: post #231
jmward01 wrote: post #59

I want this for cars but to keep the modern powertrain. So an EV without the tracking/touch screens, etc etc. Or an internal combustion engine car that is just simple and efficient (and again, no tracking). I'll take the low-tech but nice features like heated seats and power windows still thank you.

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

$41k doesn't sound that cheap to me, for what it is

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

#733

Post by torginus »

cogman10 wrote: post #690
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…

Hey, we have the exact same model and it's still in use. Those things were built like tanks. We have an even older one from the 1940s that also still fires up and works just fine. The main thing the modern tractor buys at this point is simply a cabin with AC (which, TBH, is a VERY nice feature). Otherwise there's not much reason not to use the older farm equipment even today. We'll still use the old massy for tilling…

Would fitting the old tractor with one of those external AC units that run off 12V work?

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

#734

Post by pocksuppet »

pocksuppet wrote: post #114
cout wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you define "electronics" and "computers"? Is a general-purpose computer running Java in the same category as a microcontroller running a tight loop with lookup tables for fuel and spark?

The problem: Once you have a microcontroller running a tight loop with lookup tables for fuel and spark, it's very tempting to make it run a tight loop with lookup tables for fuel, spark, and time since license renewal - and there's no outward difference between the two microcontrollers until one of them stops working. This is where regulations can help: if a manufacturer is afraid of a zillion dollar fine, they won'…

I still don't understand what was downvotable about this comment.

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

#735

Post by cogman10 »

torginus wrote: post #733
cogman10 wrote: post #690

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, we have the exact same model and it's still in use. Those things were built like tanks. We have an even older one from the 1940s that also still fires up and works just fine. The main thing the modern tractor buys at this point is simply a cabin with AC (which, TBH, is a VERY nice feature). Otherwise there's not much reason not to use the older farm equipment even today. We'll still use the old massy for tilling…

Would fitting the old tractor with one of those external AC units that run off 12V work?

The old tractors are missing cabs, they are open to the air.

Some of them have a removable roof but that's about it.

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

#736

Post by stomptttt »

simplyluke wrote: post #526

Late to the party here, so I don't expect this to get a lot of traction, but I'd like to point out that part of the reason this hasn't existed until recently as an option in the US is because it's functionally illegal for it to exist. > The 12-valve Cummins is arguably the most widely understood diesel engine in North America. Every independent shop, every shade-tree mechanic with a set of wrenches, every farmer who…

https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/icymi-epas-new-guidance-rem...

Is that still the case?

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

#737

Post by Toutouxc »

salawat wrote: post #437
cout wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if this notion comes from the 80s, when engines with turbos had lower compression ratios for reliability. Today's turbocharged motors have higher compression ratios than in the malaise era, and the turbos have a lot less lag. Turbos no longer mean you have to sacrifice fuel economy for performance (unless you have a lead foot).

>Turbos no longer mean you have to sacrifice fuel economy for performance (unless you have a lead foot). That's incorrect. Virtually every turbo'd gas car runs slightly richer than stoich to use the unburnt fuel to manage temp/knock. Diesels, you actually get more efficiency out of with a turbo for free. With gas you're practically guaranteed to be throwing fuel out the pipe.

That isn't some turbo specialty, the effect is the same in both NA and turbo engines. And AFAIK it isn't really feasible anymore. I don't know about other manufacturers, but for example Volkswagen Group's EA211 EVO2 engines run pinned at lambda 1 no matter what.

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

#738

Post by kube-system »

alexashka wrote: post #544
kube-system wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You certainly don't need economic investment to become "rich" in culture, enlightenment, or humanity, for sure. And there is value to that. However, financiers played an indisputable role in the current state of economic wealth in today's world.

Indisputable role in economic precarity , more commonly known as wage slavery.

Economic uncertainty is negatively correlated with market capitalization per capita.

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

#739

Post by elAhmo »

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 wasn't driving too much, but grew up with my uncle and grandfather using Ursus C-335, which is probably from the 70s. They said they traded an ox for it 40-50 years ago, still in use almost daily. Effectively zero electronics.

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

#740

Post by salawat »

Toutouxc wrote: post #737
salawat wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Turbos no longer mean you have to sacrifice fuel economy for performance (unless you have a lead foot). That's incorrect. Virtually every turbo'd gas car runs slightly richer than stoich to use the unburnt fuel to manage temp/knock. Diesels, you actually get more efficiency out of with a turbo for free. With gas you're practically guaranteed to be throwing fuel out the pipe.

That isn't some turbo specialty, the effect is the same in both NA and turbo engines. And AFAIK it isn't really feasible anymore. I don't know about other manufacturers, but for example Volkswagen Group's EA211 EVO2 engines run pinned at lambda 1 no matter what.

All I know is my last turbo'd vehicle was always running at 13.8, and that was a 2013 Nissan with a turbo'd L4, and it annoyed the piss out of me. Pretty much guaranteed only getting 26 MPG at highway speeds. This was despite claims in the manual saying the AFR was fuel octane dependent & would automatically vary (which I found out through experimentation was full of shit). It just stayed pinned to 13.8 whether you ran 87 or 91.
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