Will gas prices ever destroy this industry?

[jbell36]

the best answer so far in this thread is will it destroy the industry, no, but will it change the industry...absolutely

i doubt battery operated will be the wave of the future, but i do think an alternative fuel will take over...in my own opinion i think propane is the future

i wouldn't be shocked to see all battery operated but i don't see it happening...somethings going to happen, it has to, it's going to be interesting to see where things are in 5 years

the problem i see is supply and demand...if everyone switches to propane or a different alternative fuel what happens to the price of gasoline, propane, etc...

[H & M Yard Improvements]

If everyone switches to propane or some other alternative fuel the crooks in Washington and Wall Street will find a way to drive those prices up too! The problem is greedy Wall Street speculation and greedy politicians who only think of themselves and not enough citizens with a set of balls to stand up to either! This will most likely remain the same and gradually get worse! Just my 2 cents!
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[seabee24]

Originally Posted by jbell36

the best answer so far in this thread is will it destroy the industry, no, but will it change the industry...absolutely

i doubt battery operated will be the wave of the future, but i do think an alternative fuel will take over...in my own opinion i think propane is the future

i wouldn't be shocked to see all battery operated but i don't see it happening...somethings going to happen, it has to, it's going to be interesting to see where things are in 5 years

the problem i see is supply and demand...if everyone switches to propane or a different alternative fuel what happens to the price of gasoline, propane, etc...

I would totally think battery operation will be the way to go. keep in mind, where does it all start at.... cars. and you dont see too many propane driven vehicals being made, but yet battery vehicals are on the rise.

From an engineers stand point. I can use elecric motors for everything, I dont need any belts, I dont need any hoses, no pullies, no engine, no hydo motors, no hydro pumps, no oil, no hydro oil, no starter, no starter battery, no alternator, no transmittions, no clutches for the pto. and no effciency loss from the use of the above objects due to friction. no oil changes, no belt chages, no blowing hydro hose, pumps, seals or motors, no pull starters and the list goes on and on. the largest mining equiptment we have is electric, trains are electricly driven.

only problem is can they produce a battery that will last a decent amount of time and give good preformance. we already burn though 3k plus a year in fuel alone per mower. so if they could billed a ztr with preformance that was in the 12-15k range on battery I would buy it.

stihl has battery power units, and they arent terrible. granded not up to commercial standards, yet. but the cordless screw driver took years for the consumer to buy, now even major contractors have 18 volt dewalts. I havnt used my corded drill in years.

[jbell36]

Originally Posted by seabee24

I would totally think battery operation will be the way to go. keep in mind, where does it all start at.... cars. and you dont see too many propane driven vehicals being made, but yet battery vehicals are on the rise.

From an engineers stand point. I can use elecric motors for everything, I dont need any belts, I dont need any hoses, no pullies, no engine, no hydo motors, no hydro pumps, no oil, no hydro oil, no starter, no starter battery, no alternator, no transmittions, no clutches for the pto. and no effciency loss from the use of the above objects due to friction. no oil changes, no belt chages, no blowing hydro hose, pumps, seals or motors, no pull starters and the list goes on and on. the largest mining equiptment we have is electric, trains are electricly driven.

only problem is can they produce a battery that will last a decent amount of time and give good preformance. we already burn though 3k plus a year in fuel alone per mower. so if they could billed a ztr with preformance that was in the 12-15k range on battery I would buy it.

stihl has battery power units, and they arent terrible. granded not up to commercial standards, yet. but the cordless screw driver took years for the consumer to buy, now even major contractors have 18 volt dewalts. I havnt used my corded drill in years.

these are all very good points...my question was will they produce enough power and last long enough...and to be honest, technology advances everyday, so i wouldn't be surprised not if, but when they come out with that technology...i would say it will be a solid 10 if not 20 years until that's mainstream...i still remember people saying we were going to be in flying cars by 2000

propane at the moment seems to be the best answer, in my opinion, but i agree, don't count batteries out...it would be pretty solid to run a machine all day with all the benefits you described...as of right now they don't have anything that will last for more than 2 hours and i'm not if it's anywhere near the power of a combustion engine...

i also would have told you that you are out of your damn mind if you told me by 2007 we would have a device in our pockets that allowed you to run your business in the field online, listen to any music you wanted to with headphones or simply the device itself, watch youtube videos, get on Facebook, etc...like i said, anything is possible with technology, and i think it's right around the corner

[KG26]

I think it will there will come a point when customers say its too expensive.

[NIXRAY]

Astro-turf. Or alternative turf. Or they robo mower is going to take off
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[New2TheGreenIndustry]

I've heard the US will be the worlds largest producer of oil by 2017. Due in part by the oil they've discovered in Texas the last few years. If there's any truth to that one would assume prices would go down if we are producing domestically. We'll see...

[205mx]

If everything switches to propane or electricity, the demand for fuel goes down. The price should then follow suit. I think cars will switch. And then fuel will come down. Mowers are likely to stay petro for the foreseeable future.

[skorum03]

I don't think Electric vehicles will catch on for a long time. Especially if domestic oil production is going to increase in the next 5 to 10 years. The whole electric vehicle thing is part of this going green trend that has not so long ago gotten to be huge. I just read an article not long ago in the New York Times about how if you were to buy a chevy volt, it would take 27 years to pay off the initial cost assuming you were driving in the battery powered mode. It just seems that the average consumer isn't going to go for that considering that the chevy volt costs nearly 40 grand. But you never know, Im sure there are a very small number of tree huggers out there that are all for it. Don't mean to get all political haha but any time fuel prices come up, that seems to be what happens anyways.

Just my two cents

YardBros Outdoors
www.yardbros.com

[ef200098]

All gas prices do is set the rate of inflation, there isn't one company or human that doesn't depend on it. Gas goes up so does Milk, Nancy's hair cut, Fred's round of golf, etc.