# Electric Riding Mower?



## TexomaEV (Jul 26, 2007)

GE made an Electric Lawn Tractor in the 70's, take a look at:

http://www.elec-trak.org/

You'll learn alot from these guys on Electric Lawn Tractors. We have a couple of members in our www.nteaa.org group, who owns these electric lawn tractors.


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## ngrimm (Oct 19, 2007)

I did a quick search for text "mower" on the Evalbum and several matches came up as an example http://www.evalbum.com/1416 with a hydro drive. Norm


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## AnthonyT (Apr 6, 2008)

Been researching this a bit more. Please let me know if you see any major errors. Here is the plan so far:

Traction Motor: 1-1.5hp at 3500-4000rpm. Stock engine spins 3800rpm at full throttle.
Blade Motors:.5-1hp at 3500-4000 rpm
Batteries: 3 12v for a 36v system, all that will fit and should get the job done
Charger: Onboard
Controller: None - hydro drive should work with the electric spinning at full rpm.
Neutral Cut Off Switch: To kill the motor when the hydro is placed into neutral.
Emergancy Cut Off
Volt and Amp meters

I might be able to get by with a lower hp traction motor as it will not be driving the blades, just pushing the mower forward. It is still just a lawn mower, I don't need it going 25mph or popping wheelies!
If this project works out the next step will be a full blown streetable car or truck.
Thanks,
Anthony


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## Mastiff (Jan 11, 2008)

For the type of yard you'll be mowing that looks good to me.

The only thing I'd recommend is not to try to accelerate too fast with that small 1.5HP traction motor, because electric motors do not like to be stalled, and you could burn it out.

If possible you could find an old forklift pump motor and use that as it will probably be enough to power your whole lawnmower and pretty cheap to obtain.

You should also take into consideration the Amperage draw of each of the motors you'll be using since you aren't using a variable speed controller.

You should add up the total Amperage draw of all the motors when they'll be at-speed and use that to size your battery pack.

We've got two Wiki Articles on sizing your battery pack, mine:
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11708
and MattW's:
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11709

I'm working on merging them into one article but that will be later.


Also if all of your motors are running maximum capacity they could also possibly burn themselves out pretty fast so a controller might be good to have.

You can find Cheap refurbished golf-cart controllers on Ebay, either Curtis or Alltrax.

Or you can order a new Kelly Controller, as these are very inexpensive new controllers:
http://www.kellycontroller.com/


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