I don't like pouring cold water on a brain storming session, but I think at 
some point, we have to ask: "Is it doable?"

When you are in the middle of eastern Montana, the nearest electric utility 
line could be miles from the combine. The cord would be a PITA to move. It is 
one of the reasons I switched from a corded to cordless mower.  

Combines running off the fermented alcohol from last year's crop might be a 
better option.  Also, at the end of a successful combine run, the combine tanks 
might be dipped into to commence a celebration. This as opposed to winding up 
miles of extension cord. 

> On Feb 21, 2014, at 10:25 AM, Bruce EVangel Parmenter 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Tethered electrically driven Ag vehicles/equipment is not new. 
> In areas of the U.S. where rainfall is not when and where you want it,
> farmers may opt to use ground water pumped into a central pivot water
> system
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_pivot_irrigation#Overview
> [video
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTluHs-PCT0
> Center Pivot irrigation 
> TRAXCO· oct 1, 2010 
> http://www.traxco.com - Center pivot systems were born to save human
> labor, evolved so fast, adjusting to the expansion of human knowledge.
> Nowadays, center Pivots are accepted as a method of water application
> that promotes efficient water use. Some others describe them as machines
> that could make it rain anytime we needed it to. The sprinkling sound of
> a center pivot system is the rhythm of many farms around the world.
> ]
> 
> Using Google maps in satellite mode, see
> http://goo.gl/maps/hhweN
> The circles are using a central pivot irrigation system. In that
> example, it is an arid region, but there is ample water flowing down the
> nearby Colorado River to tap into.
> 
> ...
> On David comment on grid powered mining EVs, see (half-way down the
> page)
> http://insideevs.com/electric-vehicles-go-underground-way-underground/
> ... Svedlung: The loaders are hundred percent electric and they’re
> powered by cable directly off the grid. The working area of mining
> loaders is usually quite confined, so it can run [off] a cable ...
> 
> 
> {brucedp.150m.com}
> 
> 
> 
> -
>> On Fri, Feb 21, 2014, at 01:49 AM, Martin WINLOW wrote:
>> Dear List,
>> 
>> I was having a chat recently at work (which is nothing whatsoever to do
>> with EVs!) about how vehicles that traditionally use lots of energy would
>> ever be able to switch to electric power due to limitations on energy
>> density.  Fuel cell tractors came up amongst other things and then one of
>> my colleagues who, on learning of the enormous amounts of power required
>> by combine harvesters and plough-pulling tractors, jokingly suggested
>> using 'a very long extension lead'.  Whilst he is an ill-informed
>> bumpkin, the thought did occur that in an agricultural context powering
>> machines directly from the grid might not be so daft.  I immediately
>> thought of those enormous irrigation contraptions that work their way up
>> and down huge fields, laying and unlaying the hose that supplies the
>> irrigation water as it goes.  Could not the same technique be applied to
>> tractors etc?  Each field would have a connection point with power
>> brought in either above or below ground in the 'usual' way.
>> 
>> An alternative idea would be to have mobile battery swap facilities
>> connected to the grid in each field and be moved from field to field as
>> the work progressed.
> -
> 
> -- 
> http://www.fastmail.fm - Faster than the air-speed velocity of an
>                          unladen european swallow
> 
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