Solectrac is an American tractor manufacturer based in
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...
. It manufactures
electric tractors for agricultural uses. The tractors are made as a
zero-emission Zero emission refers to an engine, motor, process, or other energy source, that emits no waste products that pollute the environment or disrupt the climate.
Zero emission engines
Vehicles and other mobile machinery used for transport (over land, se ...
alternative to diesel tractors and can be charged by renewable energy, like wind and solar, and provide all the power of a comparable diesel tractor.
History
The company was established in 2012 by Stephen Heckeroth. On the first
Earth Day in 1970, Steve began his journey toward addressing the negative effects of burning fossil fuels. Then in 1990, encouraged by the
California Air Resources Board
The California Air Resources Board (CARB or ARB) is the "clean air agency" of the government of California. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Moto ...
(CARB) Zero Emissions Mandate, he turned his attention to transportation. He then began designing and building various types of electric vehicles and in 1992 founded MendoMotive and Electrac.
In 1995, he was commissioned to build an experimental electric tractor for
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
and
New Holland. The following year, Heckeroth was commissioned by a Japanese company (EFRIG) to build an electric tractor to be used in the critical processes of removing land mines left behind after wars.
In 2012 he founded Solectrac LLC to take small farm electric tractors into commercial production. In 2013 Solectrac received a $500,000 grant from the Indian US Science and Technology Fund (IUSSTF) to develop four all-electric tractor prototypes.
Ideanomics has a 100% stake in the company following an investment in 2020.
See also
*
Monarch Tractor
References
{{reflist, 2
2012 establishments in California
Battery electric vehicle manufacturers
Tractor manufacturers of the United States
Electric tractors