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Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

thedrive.com

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Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#81

Post by jessaustin »

tsomctl wrote: post #33
sandworm101 wrote: post #2

Progress yes, but at a peak of 70hp it won't be plowing much more than a hobby garden. Autonomous operation is all well and good but expect resistance. Look at how many farmers are injured by tractor equipment. They will rightly fear driverless tractors.

There's a difference between peak horsepower output and continuous horsepower output. A normal passenger car might be able to put out 300 hp, but only for a short period of time before blowing the headgasket (or destroying the drive train). Diesel engine with gobs of torque or electric is going to produce that power at a lower speed and more efficiently, so it will be able to do it longer. Being able to put out 70hp…

TFA said "40 horsepower continuously and, in short durations, peak power reaches 70 horsepower." This is a 40hp tractor.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#82

Post by [deleted] »

jmtulloss wrote: post #49
whizzkid wrote: post #17

+ Really good idea to make use of the electricity in other ways than just driving. (generators, lamps, etc.) + 10 hours covers up a good day in field. - a lot of farms are away from electricity sources to charge and sometimes internet connection is non-existent. It is risky to leave a 50k machine on its own to do its job. And what to do if battery runs out on the field? - how long does it take to recharge? A lot of f…

Not covered in the article, but in another demo the company says that they’re going to have a cart for bringing out new batteries and that you can change them out in the field. So if you need more than 10 hours, you can get 2 batteries and have it working 24/7 with minimal downtime.

[deleted]

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#83

Post by ogre_codes »

analog31 wrote: post #78

Granted it's not one of the behemoth's that I see in the Midwest. But I would see a 10 hour run time as a limitation. My friends who raise corn & beans have described their work as being like flying a small plane: Hours of boredom capped off at the ends by a few moments of sheer terror. The opportunities to plant and harvest are dictated by the weather, and when it's good, they want to be running their machines aroun…

It's 40HP, this is a small farm or utility tractor. The big harvesters and monster tractors they use for tilling 100s of acres at a time are a whole other league.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#84

Post by tempestn »

nanna wrote: post #56
nxmnxm99 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I've tried DDG reliably for nearly a year. A good 30% of the time I end up having to run my query on Google anyway. I will literally pay money for a search engine that's privacy focused and can get closer to Google in terms of performance.

Personally I need to switch from ddg to Google maybe 0.1% of my searches, but at least for you you've managed to avoid Google 70% of the time, and it's not like adding a !g to do so takes more a milisecond.

Right, but running 30% of your searches a second time, after looking through unhelpful results on the first attempt, takes more than a few ms.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#87

Post by rational_indian »

zaroth wrote: post #11

Once John Deere starting DRM’ing their tractors it just screams entrenched monopoly. But where’s the barrier to entry? AI is going to dramatically alter this competitive landscape and John Deere’s DRM is not going to to stop it. Honestly, I love watching these companies drive nails into their own coffins. I was on the Google homepage today on my iPhone and was getting popups advertising Chrome (on the homepage!) and…

> Safari

> Don’t support these shitty companies

Then start by changing your phone.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#88

Post by amerine »

rational_indian wrote: post #87
zaroth wrote: post #11

Once John Deere starting DRM’ing their tractors it just screams entrenched monopoly. But where’s the barrier to entry? AI is going to dramatically alter this competitive landscape and John Deere’s DRM is not going to to stop it. Honestly, I love watching these companies drive nails into their own coffins. I was on the Google homepage today on my iPhone and was getting popups advertising Chrome (on the homepage!) and…

> Safari > Don’t support these shitty companies Then start by changing your phone.

What do you recommend as an alternative?

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#90

Post by opinion-is-bad »

Simulacra wrote: post #57

This is fascinating but I'm surprised by how little progress we've made in automating farm work. There have been articles about how complicated it is for a computer to pick vegetables and fruits, and how nothing compares to the human hand. How long will it be before we see robots take over the field, displacing seasonal workers? https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/03/20/592857197/ro...

Between 1970 and 2013, the % of Americans working in agriculture dropped from 4.4 to 1.5. I’d say we have continued to make excellent progress, it’s just not as sexy as robot fruit pickers.
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