In what continues to feel like the ultimate tool hack, I’ve been running my electric tractor completely off-grid. I haven’t paid to charge it in months and it feels like I’m somehow cheating, always having the power of heavy machinery at my fingertips with absolutely zero fuel cost.
Here’s how I wake up to a full “tank” every day, for free.
Having an electric tractor has been incredibly useful on my family’s homestead where I keep it. It’s actually an articulating wheel loader, and so it does plenty of jobs beyond mere pulling tasks, including various material handling, hole digging for tree planting, trench digging, moving pallets and heavy equipment around, spreading mulch, moving compost, grading surfaces, etc.
Because it’s electric, I don’t have the major maintenance issues of a diesel tractor, and it’s just a lot nicer to use every day because it’s not loud, smelling of exhaust, or creating an uncomfortably hot working environment on days that are frankly already too hot.
On the other hand, I can’t just keep fuel cans around to instantly top it up whenever I want. With a run time of 4-6 hours per charge, it handles our needs but still needs to be charged back up regularly.
But as you can imagine, I don’t always want to rely on a wall outlet that is several acres away. As an alternative, I decided to create a charging shed out of a 20-foot shipping container.
I wrote an entire article on building the charging shed, so you can check that out for more details on the build on the build process. But to summarize, the container has 1,200 watts of solar panels on top that feed an 8 kWh battery bank inside it.
Compared to trying to build a new barn or install a prefab metal building, this shipping container is much, much cheaper.
The actual container cost me around US $3,000, and I just had to do the legwork of moving it out into the pasture by using a set of EZYwheels that let me tow the whole thing like a trailer (behind the tractor it would soon be charging, no less!).
Towing roughly 6,000 pounds (approximately 2,700 kg) across a bumpy pasture isn’t for the faint of heart, but it seemed to work just fine when you go slow and the ground isn’t too wet to get traction.
Once in place, the container creates both a place to store the tractor so it’s not out exposed to the elements and a place to charge it up during the day.
The total battery capacity of my wheel loader is actually slightly larger than the battery capacity in the container. There’s 8 kWh of storage in the container but 9 kWh in my wheel loader, though I never really run the loader all the way to empty so it’s easy enough to charge it just from my stored energy. And I never worry about not having enough charge left in the container because it is charging itself from the sun every day.
In strong sun, I can get over 800 watts of continuous charging into the container’s battery bank, though on cloudy days that can drop to just 100-200 watts. Fortunately, the 8 kWh is enough to hold me over on cloudy days, and it’s not like I’m using the tractor commercially. It gets a few hours of use each day, whenever we’ve got tasks on hand that require it.
I originally had a small portable air conditioner in the container to try and keep things inside from baking like an oven, but I found that the white paint of the container kept it from heating up too much in the sun. Plus the 1,500 W of power that the air conditioner was pulling was really chewing into my stored energy, depleting my battery bank overnight. Ultimately I decided to deep six the A/C and instead I will likely look at a smaller and more efficient mini-split in the future.
However, I still wanted to keep the container from getting too humid as a way to protect the various electric vehicles I park in there. So, in place of the A/C unit, I put in a single-room dehumidifier that pulls around 100 W from my container’s batteries. It works great to keep the humidity down but barely makes a dent in my battery bank’s charge level!
With this setup, I’ve created an entirely off-grid system where my electric tractor is always powered by solar energy. The tractor would already have been pretty cheap to charge from a wall outlet back at the house or garage building, costing around a dollar and a half to refuel it each time the batteries are empty. However, by using a solar-powered setup, now it’s basically free to charge (not including the initial expense of the solar setup, of course).
For me, this was never an exercise in trying to save money though, largely since the cost of charging electric vehicles at home is already so incredibly cheap. Instead, it was about creating a convenient way to charge and store these types of vehicles, and it allows me to also keep my e-bikes, e-scooters, and other e-tools out of the weather and fully charged up. For example, we just got an electric chainsaw and now I can run that off-grid as well.
In a pinch, I could probably use the container as emergency power after a bad storm, assuming the solar panels haven’t blown into the next area code (this was a DIY build and it’s definitely not hurricane-rated). And if so, at least the batteries will still hold a charge until they’re depleted!
This might not be the best solution for everyone, but it worked well for my use, creating dual purpose weather-proof storage and off-grid charging in a single structure. The system could obviously be scaled up or down for larger or smaller needs, and has the advantage of being highly customizable for different requirements. If someone only wants to keep their e-bikes charged up off-grid, a much smaller solar array and battery bank would be sufficient. For someone wanting to run their Tesla off-grid, a significantly larger system would be needed.
The sky is the limit. And it’s the energy source, too!
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The Tesla Cybertruck is in crisis. The automaker is still sitting on a ton of old inventory, which it is now heavily discounting, and it is throttling down production to try to avoid building up the inventory again.
When launching the production version of the Cybertruck in late 2023, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed that the vehicle program would reach 250,000 units a year in 2025:
“I think we’ll end up with roughly a quarter million Cybertrucks a year, but I don’t think we’re going to reach that output rate next year. I think we’ll probably reach it sometime in 2025.”
We are now in 2025, and Tesla is expected to currently be selling the Cybertruck at a rate of about 25,000 units a year – a tenth of what Musk predicted.
Earlier this month, we reported that Tesla began the second quarter with 2,400 Cybertrucks in inventory, valued at over $200 million.
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This is a real problem for Tesla as many of those Cybertrucks are older 2024 model year units not eligible for the federal tax credit, and even some ‘Foundation Series’, which Tesla stopped building in October 2024 – meaning that Tesla is sitting on some 6-month-old trucks in some cases.
Tesla is now offering deeper discounts on the new inventory of Cybertrucks. The discounts can go as high as $10,000, but the average one is closer to $8,000, which is more than the tax credit:
Despite Tesla’s efforts, the automaker has only reduced its Cybertruck inventory by about 100 units since the beginning of the month.
Tesla is now further throttling down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas, according to a new report from Business Insider.
According to two Tesla workers speaking with BI, the automaker has reduced its Cybertruck production teams and now operates at a fraction of its original capacity. It also moved some Cybertruck production workers to Model Y production at the plant.
One of the workers said:
“It feels a lot like they’re filtering people out. The parking lot keeps getting emptier.”
When it comes to the Cybertruck program, it sounds like Tesla is lowering production even further.
Last week, Tesla launched a new version of the Cybertruck in an attempt to boost demand, but it has been poorly received due to the automaker’s removal of many essential features.
Electrek’s Take
There are a lot of other automakers that would have already given up on the Cybertruck ith these results, but not Tesla. Musk is not one to admit defeat easily.
However, Tesla is running out of options.
The new Cybertruck RWD was a desperate attempt, and I doubt it will work. Now, it sounds like Tesla is further throttling down production – virtually confirming that the new trim didn’t help.
The next step would be a complete production pause.
Again, I don’t think Musk wants to admit defeat, but at some point, it’s inevitable.
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LiveWire, the electric motorcycle brand spun out of Harley-Davidson, has officially launched a new line of electric motorcycles tailored for law enforcement and security use. The move marks another example of electric two-wheelers expanding beyond consumer markets and into professional and government fleets.
The company’s new LiveWire fleet program debuted with its electric motorcycle models adapted to include law enforcement-specific features like sirens, emergency lighting, and reinforced mounting points for gear. They are designed for urban patrol duties, security, and events where agility and low operational noise are critical.
As LiveWire explains, the electric drivetrain offers several advantages over traditional gas-powered police motorcycles, including lower maintenance needs, reduced operational costs, and near-silent operation. Those can be strategic advantages for many law enforcement departments. Instant torque and quick acceleration also give officers a performance edge in dense urban environments.
Additionally, the lack of a clutch and the ability to operate the motorcycle entirely with just the right hand and right foot, as opposed to a traditional motorcycle requiring the use of both hands and both feet, make the bikes ideal for reducing rider fatigue during long shifts and for low-speed operation like motorcade duty.
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Departments will be able to configure bikes with a range of custom options through LiveWire’s fleet division. The fleet program highlights benefits such as regenerative braking for improved efficiency, customizable ride modes, and short recharging times allowing officers to quickly recharge during shifts if needed.
The initiative comes at a time when interest in electric police vehicles is rising. Several major cities have already begun integrating electric vehicles including e-bikes into their fleets to reduce emissions and lower fuel costs. LiveWire’s dedicated police motorcycles could help fill a niche where traditional gas-powered motorcycles are too noisy, high-maintenance, or costly for modern policing needs. That’s exaclty what we’ve seen in the past when the original Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle was already drafted into police department use years ago.
For now, LiveWire’s police models are targeting agencies across North America, but given the growing global demand for greener fleets, it’s likely we’ll see broader adoption if the program proves successful.
Electric motorcycles have also proven popular among police departments and security forces both in the US and around the world.
As electric vehicle technology continues to improve and charging infrastructure expands, it’s all but inevitable that more police and security fleets will gradually transition to electric models.
The combination of lower operating costs, easier maintenance, and environmental benefits makes electrification an increasingly practical and attractive option for public safety agencies.
Current battery technology, which generally provides around 100 miles (160 km) of range, positions these electric motorcycles ideally for urban law enforcement roles. This urban setting is precisely where their strengths become most apparent. Quiet operation, zero emissions, and significantly reduced maintenance costs make electric police motorcycles particularly beneficial for high-mileage city fleets.
Imagine landing at JFK or LaGuardia after a fun but taxing vacation, and instead of hailing a two-hour cab ride or asking your brother-in-law to come and get you, you take to the skies in an eVTOL. You’re back on the ground in 15 minutes for a short trip back home to bed. What a time to be alive. eVTOL developer Archer Aviation is making this dream a reality alongside its business partner, United Airlines, offering travelers to NYC a new map of air taxi routes to travel to and from NYC airports.
As you may or may not already know, Archer Aviation ($ACHR) is a Santa Clara, California-based aviation developer specializing in designing and developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, particularly for use in urban air mobility (UAM) networks such as air taxi services.
Archer remains one of the more exciting eVTOL developers we follow and stays relevant on our news beat with steady announcements of new partnerships with companies worldwide to develop and implement networks of sustainable air travel using its flagship Midnight eVTOL aircraft.
One of Archer’s long-standing partners has been Stellantis, which signed an agreement to become the exclusive manufacturer of Archer’s eVTOL technology at a new facility in the US, specifically Covington, Georgia. Last summer, Archer announced that a new US facility had completed construction, and Midnight eVTOL production was scheduled to begin in early 2025.
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In addition to Stellantis, plenty of other big names have invested in Archer and/or signed agreements with the eVTOL specialist, including Boeing and ARK Invest. Aviation companies like Southwest and Soracle in Japan have signed ventures to establish eVTOL air taxi networks in major metropolitan areas like Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Chicago – the latter of which comes via a landmark agreement with Signature Airlines signed in June 2024.
Another partner is United Airlines, which is working alongside Archer to establish a new eVTOL air taxi network around the NYC metropolitan area, connecting Manhattan to several nearby airports. You can see the NYC air taxi route map below:
Source: Archer
Archer unveils eVTOL air taxi routes coming to NYC
Archer Aviation unveiled the initial route map for air taxi operations in NYC this morning alongside details of its ongoing partnership with United Airlines. The pending air taxi network includes vertiports at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Airports around NYC and a presence at regional airports and three helipads in the city itself.
Per Archer, the goal is to provide travelers with a new, safe, and sustainable method of transportation in which they can visit a nearby heliport and fly 5 to 15 minutes in a Midnight eVTOL to their destination as opposed to potentially sitting in hours of NYC traffic. Archer founder and CEO Adam Goldstein elaborated:
The New York region is home to three of the world’s preeminent airports, serving upwards of 150 million passengers annually. But the drive from Manhattan to any of these airports can be painful, taking one, sometimes two hours. We want to change that by giving residents and visitors the option to complete trips in mere minutes. With its existing helicopter infrastructure, regulatory support and strong demand, I believe New York could be one of the first markets for air taxis in the United States.
Thanks to its partnership with United, Archer said its future passengers can book air taxi flights in NYC as an “add-on” to their existing itinerary. As an example, the eVTOL developer said a customer would be able to take a Midnight eVTOL, which is designed to transport four passengers plus a pilot, from a vertiport downtown to the Newark Airport in less than ten minutes, then go through security and board their commercial flight as normal, saving tons of time along the way.
Source: Archer
As a long-term investor and customer in Archer’s eVTOL technology, United Airlines intends to work alongside its partner to help make these air taxi routes around NYC a reality. Andrew Chang, Head of United Airlines Ventures, also spoke:
At United, our focus is on driving innovation, reimagining the future of air travel and enhancing the customer experience every step of the journey. Our strategic collaboration with Archer will be key to our efforts to build and optimize the infrastructure – such as real estate development, air space management, and safety and security protocols – necessary to bring advanced air mobility to our customers.
Here is the full list of planned vertiports for air taxi travel around the NYC metropolitan area:
Major Airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Newark Airport
NYC Helipads: East 34th Street Heliport, Downtown Skyport, West 30th Street Heliport
Regional Airports: Westchester County Airport, Teterboro Airport, Republic Airport
The NYC network is a part of Archer’s more extensive plans to establish eVTOL air taxi travel across populated and traffic-dense areas in the US, including additional networks in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Archer shared it is currently working through the final stages of FAA approval to get those routes up and running.
A representative for the company shared the following update when asked when we might see Archer air taxi operations in the New York City area:
We’re taking a step by step approach for any new market we’re launching in, starting with a few aircraft on a few routes. We’ll ramp commercial operations upon receiving Type Certification from the FAA. We’re in the final stages of FAA type certification for Midnight, and once complete, we’ll be ready to begin commercial operations. We will start slowly, with a “crawl, walk, run” approach with Midnight’s roll-out. In the U.S., we’ve identified New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco as our initial markets.
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