# Kubota tractor conversion



## gregkubotaconversion (Dec 16, 2018)

Hi all, new here but I’ve been reading a lot over this weekend.
My project will be for my KubotaB7100HST. The motor went down after 20+ years and a new one is out of the question for such an old tractor.
What type of electric motor will produce roughly 20hp and should it be an ac or dc? Interested in going electric but way to many different motors out there to know where to start.


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## KenB (Apr 6, 2009)

Some more info will help you get better replies. Where are you? What will you use the tractor for? What is your skill set? What is your budget?

Ken


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## gregkubotaconversion (Dec 16, 2018)

Hi KenB
I live in Alabama. My skill set is pretty good and my tractor has been used around the small 10ac farm doing different tasks but mainly bush hogging and moving things around with the bucket about 4-5 hours per weekend weather permitting. It’s been a sweet little machine and has done things I was told it couldn’t do over the past 30 years. I’m just curious as to what it would take to convert it over to a EV and would it be worth the effort. 
Thanks for replying


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## electro wrks (Mar 5, 2012)

It sounds like you have a loader on this tractor and it is a hydrostatic drive. Is the hydraulic power for the loader built into the hydrostatic drive? Or is it from a separate engine driven pump? Are there any other hydraulically driven attachments?


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## Mandres (Sep 20, 2018)

The motor, controller and batteries will be much more expensive than a new diesel. All of the other ev advantages are there, not to mention the cool factor, but go into it with eyes open. To get any kind of reasonable run time you need a huge power bank because hydro trans and pumps are not very efficient. You could reengineer the whole thing to use direct drive motors and linear actuators, which would be awesome, but that's even more expensive and unproven. 

Might be worth researching how some of the big manufacturers are doing it and copying their design. I think I read that CAT has been building a few electric wheel loaders.


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