John Deere 316 Electric Conversion...First Drive

The John Deere 316 with an electric conversion (and a 214 hood!) showing the blade operation and a bit of driving around......Loving it!

[@welderboy525]

Lot of memories with that tractor. Glad to see it living another life

[@roybertalotto6355]

Wow...Thanks for looking in on it. Yes, it turned out pretty good in its second life!

[@ebinmaine]

You've done some interesting builds Roy. Do you attend any tractor or machinery shows? Zagray Farm Museum in Colchester Connecticut as their spring show coming up on Saturday May 6th. If all goes according to plan we'll be bringing you a couple of our vintage Wheelhorses down a little south of your neck of the woods.

[@roybertalotto6355]

I just might attend this show.....I'm thinking about building a pulling garden tractor. Seems like there is a pretty active community for that sport around here. Think my electric tractor should be shown at this show? Check out my web page www.rvbprecision.com

[@wiboater4]

Have you thought about lithium ion batteries? As far as the noise maybe some type of soft foam insulation ? I'd love to have that thing!

[@roybertalotto6355]

I did consider Li batteries. But I like the added weight of lead . When these die, I might build a battery pack out of individual cells. Thanks!

[@wiboater4]

@@roybertalotto6355 I guess the advantage would be you could build any size and shape module you would want . There is more hassle doing those though I checked into it a while back I was thinking about converting a car to electric before Tesla got going. I ended up waiting on the list(2 and a half years) and bought a Model 3. I'll never buy another gas powered cr again.

[@roybertalotto6355]

@@wiboater4 My next car will be a Plug In Hybrid.....A few neighbors have them and can't speak positively enough about them. My son has a Tesla, but lives 10 minutes from the Tesla factory in CA. Chargers everywhere. Up here in SE Massachusetts a full EV is still a bit of a challenge. Getting better, but still a challenge.

[@wiboater4]

How long do you think it will run before it needs to be recharged? I snowblow 7 driveway's with a 140 H3 do you think it would do that many?

[@roybertalotto6355]

I plowed heavy wet snow for about three hours and the nbatteries were down to a bit under 60%. The motor is drawing from 20-40amps, depending on load. It has a 100ah battery system. You shouldn't take them down below 50%. So we are looking at about 2-3 hours total run time. When hauling wood or other yard chores, the motor is not running constantly, only when moving a load of logs etc. So I can get 6-7 hours of actual work out of it.

[@wiboater4]

@@roybertalotto6355 I figure turning the 49 snowthrower probably will eat up a lot of battery if blowing deep snow. Probably wouildn't be a problem doing one driveway but I have to do a bunch of neighbors. usually takes around 3 hours in heavy snow. to do all 7 . Anyway I love what you did with that 316. I don't think I could bring myself to give up the 140 and don't really have enough room for another tractor. Thanks for the reply

[@roybertalotto6355]

@@wiboater4 Just need more batteries...or a few extra batteries that you can have charging and swap them in and out as needed.....

[@RyanBertalotto]

Dad, you are non stop and definitely a genius. You are the Elon Musk of lawn tractors.

[@TheDeanosaurus]

@@roybertalotto6355 I really wonder since the motor can spool up so quickly if you have to have it running all the time. I guess with the hydraulics maybe? Just wonder how on-demand you could make the power by adding some additional drive electronics to the drive pedal. Cool build!