Plowing NovaScotian snow on the cheap http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/467916-snowpig-frugal-alternative-to-blower [image] NovaScotia » ‘Snowpig’ frugal alternative to blower By IAN FAIRCLOUGH Jan 18 2013
[video flash] Timberlea man turns golf cart into cheap, snow-blowing marvel Dan Baker and four other families had been paying a contractor $80 per storm to plow the snow from their private road at Fraser’s Lake. The other day, 10 cm of snow was removed from the 135-metre road for 78 cents. That’s what happens when you pimp your golf cart to turn it into an electric snow-blowing machine. Baker, a self-described tinkerer who makes his living in the IT sector, had already built a solar-powered electric pontoon-style boat and converted a gas-powered outboard to electric, and wanted a better way to clear his road. So he bought a used golf cart, the used snow blower attachment to a Sears lawn tractor, and started tinkering and adding batteries. The end result — named “Snowpig” http://www.evalbum.com/4544 is a 25 horse-power snow-clearing machine that would make Tim the Tool Man proud. With the cart now higher because of a lift kit and sitting on a four ATV tires, the 42-inch blower makes clearing the road cheaper, quieter and more environmentally friendly than a plow or gas blower. It cleared the road in about half an hour last week, and used only six kilowatts of power. “I was going to use (the cart) with a plow... but I was quite concerned that where it’s a two-wheel drive and the road has two steep hills, there wouldn’t be enough weight to push the snow,” Baker said. The blower also makes it easier to do the driveways on the road and get around parked vehicles. “I still have a few little kinks to work out,” Baker said. A new part is needed to control the chute angle by cables from inside, but all-in-all he’s pleased with the way Snowpig is working. The whole project cost about $2,400 for parts and accessories and to enclose the cab, compared to $2,150 for a regular snowblower with a 45-inch cut at a Canadian retailer. “This one has all the creature comforts inside. I have a stereo with a sub-woofer, I have two heaters, I have all the lights on it,” Baker said. The electric motors make the machine less noisy than a conventional gas-powered snow blower, and he figures there will be less maintenance too. “My father has one, my brother has one, and both of them are broken right now,” he said. “I’ve worked on a lot of gas engines before, and snow blowers are some of the worst ones because the motor puts out a lot of vibrations, they take a lot of abuse and they tend to vibrate themselves apart.” [© Chronicle Herald] ... [video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK811pD-nTw electric vehicle conversion in Nova Scotia buzsuz26 Apr 24, 2010 91 gmc sonoma chasis with 50 year old technology is Nova Scotia's most efficient vehicle. The simplicity of electric drive trains is the most attractive feature of ev's for me, 90% of the complexity of modern vehicles is due to attempts to reduce the carbon footprint of the conventional gas engine ] ... http://clean.ns.ca/programs/transportation/drivewiser/electric-cars/ ... http://shareready.nspower.ca/ For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: How to Drive 110 Miles for $1 with DIY EV EVLN: FGR boss & eco-warrior Hockaday save the planet in his Leaf EV EVLN: EV registrations skyrocket in Hawaii EVLN: Europe Sets Mennekes as Common Standard for EV Charging EVLN: Behance nCycle, a two-wheeler for the smartphone generation + EVLN: With Chinese Tesla, You Get Egg Roll {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Snowpig-e-cart-converted-into-a-snow-blowing-marvel-tp4660998.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
