# Full John Deere Electric Tractor Conversion Article



## Rbertalotto (May 26, 2020)

Finally had time to put this whole Garden Tractor Conversion project to words...

Hope you enjoy it!

John Deere 214 Electric Conversion


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## MattsAwesomeStuff (Aug 10, 2017)

Neat!

$1800 isn't bad I don't think.

I think you overspent on a $600 motor, and $700 of batteries if you're not even powering any equipment off it. $60 in used batteries and a $50 used motor would've sufficed. But, whatever made your project move forward is the best decision.

I'm a bit surprised how easily it pulled a 1000 lb trailer up hill. More of just a bump, but there's probably 2' of steep rise there, it's enough to see if the engine would bog out and it was fine.

Cute little thing and it's nice and quiet, looks great.


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## Rbertalotto (May 26, 2020)

Let me know where I can get a 13HP motor or even a 5HP DC electric motor for $50 and I'll buy all of them....And I'll also buy any 105ah / 12V batteries for $60- for 4.........Thank You


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## MattsAwesomeStuff (Aug 10, 2017)

Rbertalotto said:


> Let me know where I can get a 13HP motor or even a 5HP DC electric motor for $50 and I'll buy all of them.


See any of the many forklift motor threads or search for "forklift" on the forums, same advice repeated for years, hasn't changed much. Motors basically never fail, electric lifts get trashed when batteries wear out, or get bought so batteries can be rescued and then the rest of the old carcass dumped.

Pump motors would be about the right size for you, traction motors would probably be a bit large.

I've got 7 forklift motors (3 pumps, 4 drive motors, various sizes) for free, just for asking and being trustworthy enough to let work on them myself without liability concerns, and being generally pleasant to deal with. Most mechanically-minded people are happy to be a part of someone's project when it doesn't cost them anything. If I wanted, I probably could've taken 50. I only really needed 2 (1 per project) and was just taking stuff apart for curiosity.

At worst you'd have to pay scrap price for the motor, which is $200 for a ~200lb motor. Ballpark $50 for a 50lb motor, if they'll even bother to charge you. (Scrap motors are more like $0.30/lb, so, shops are probably pocketing $0.70/lb even at that).

Sometimes they'll have some on a shelf they don't even care to keep.



> And I'll also buy any 105ah / 12V batteries for $60- for 4.


Be kind and resourceful and ask at a non-chain that sells batteries and charges core charges if you can buy old automotive batteries for the core charge. Tell them it's for a project (they won't want to sell used batteries to someone they could sell a new battery to).

I offered this advice at first without testing it a few times, then figured I should put my money where my mouth is and see how hard it would be to follow. First place said no. Second place (NAPA, local manager) said sure.

I bought 8 for $10-20 each (depending on size), 5 worked, I was too lazy to test in the shop and they'll buy any back from me that I don't want.

Old starter batteries are often just fine, and for how little energy storage you need to drive a tractor around for a few hours, they'll do what you need.

Junkyard batteries that test good aren't much more, $30-40 often.


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## LawRec (Jul 23, 2021)

Excellent work, which is worthy of respect. But I would still prefer a tractor with a good old-fashioned internal combustion engine. In my opinion, it is more practical than an electric engine, although it is naturally more harmful to the environment. I recently chose a tractor for my brother, who owns a small farm in his country house. I wanted to give him a birthday present and bought him a new Zetor Primo, which is designed for mowing lawns and any other grass. I got it from heming-engineering.co.uk, which my neighbor recommended to me. The tractor is very compact and doesn't take up much space. It handles its functions very well. All in all, my brother was delighted, and that was the most important thing for me.


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