Challenges: Price and Rapid Obsolescence

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Americas First Electric Tractor Company BANKRUPT...Why?

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What happens here

A new Solectrac 25G with a loader retailed for around $35,000, which was more than $10,000 more expensive than comparable diesel tractors (e.g., ARK 25, John Deere 1025R). The presenter believes this high price, especially without government subsidies, was a significant deterrent for potential buyers. He also points out the rapid pace of technological advancement in electric vehicles, which makes consumers hesitant to invest in current models that might quickly become outdated.

Goal: The presenter identifies the tractor's high price point and the rapidly evolving nature of electric vehicle technology as major factors contributing to the company's failure.

What they say

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the tractor. The loader is super strong. It will pick up hay bales. It did great. I had it out in one of my pastures nearly all winter long and fed hay bales nearly all winter on one single charge. It's designed to run around 4 hours on one single charge, which is fine for a yard tractor, for a small compact tractor like this. You're not going to be doing row crop work with this tractor. That 4 hours is at full bore. So, in other words, I hooked a mowing deck up to it, a bush hog deck, brush hog, whatever you want to call it, and I mowed and at full blast, 4 hours is what I could get. If I'm just driving around and carrying material in the bucket, I really couldn't tell you how long the battery lasts. Like I said, almost an entire winter just moving hay bells. All I did was just pull up to a hay bell, lift it up, take it to the cows, drop it. That was it. It wouldn't burn a whole lot of power that way. And it lasted a long, long time. I didn't have to warm up an engine. That's that's why I liked it. I do think that we as a community of farmers and homesteaders and folks that just need a little compact tractor like this in their backyard. I think that we as a community are going to start leaning towards electric tractors and electrification services due for like 250 to 400 hours, something like that. I like that. I liked the tractor. The tractor was strong. The tractor was heavy. Now, for electric vehicles, the heavy is cumbersome and the heavy eats up energy. But for a tractor, heavy is good. It makes it more planted. It makes it more stable. It makes it be able to pick up more. I was a huge fan of this tractor. The second thing that I think may have caused an issue. Uh there is a battery under the hood and then there's a tiny auxiliary battery that sits under there. If you park this tractor in your backyard or in your garage and you don't have it plugged in for several months, you will have a problem with that smaller 12volt battery. And that smaller 12volt battery engages everything to do

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