Oh boy!!!! LT15WIDE Battery Powered Sawmill

[barbender]

 I think it's cool. I think the R&D on this could have trickle down for other basic mill parts...maybe brushless motors for the drive, lift, debarker, and hydraulic pumps on regular LT40's. I also understand where current owners like Bruno are a bit miffed that those resources weren't applied towards developing things that would be useful on existing mills. Or especially guys that are waiting 20 months for a new mill.

[OlJarhead]

8 hour runtime in optimal weather...

There is a huge investment firm pushing for these types of things.  Not actually good for the environment either.

What woukd be cool woukd be a colab with Toyota and their H2H Corolla motor.

[Magicman]

No one can keep the innovation wheels from turning.  When I left the telephone industry 31 years ago, bag phones were the rage and handhelds were practically unheard of.  Someone comes up with a wild idea and someone else catches the ball and runs.

I will never own an EV nor have an ES but I do have two E-chainsaws and for what they are and do, they are very satisfactory.  I have one of the first electric drills that has a 6' cord and alligator clips.

I'll just watch this one from the balcony.  ;D

[BlackberryPines]

After watching the video pretty sure that is European made machine.

That was the first thing that came to my mind as well.  It has the European console/set works and tensioner.

[Ianab]

What woukd be cool woukd be a colab with Toyota and their H2H Corolla motor.

That's another interesting technology. But the current issues is where to get the H2 from. In most places it's processed from Natural gas, so no real environmental gain. Local fertiliser company has a project to produce hydrogen from wind, and then either convert it to urea fertiliser, or sell it as fuel, Whichever pays the best I guess, but they have their bases covered either way. But currently hydrogen is hard to come by, electricity to charge a battery is available most places. 

But if no one tries these new technologies, we would still be using man powered pit saws. And that's assuming someone putzed around with hot rocks and invented steel.:D They probably made fun of Grog the caveman when he tried to sharpen a rock. 

[SawyerTed]

Hopefully battery technology will move forward and prices will decline.   

$9,000 for battery replacement is a big ticket!  6x$1,500 in 6 to 10 years seems expensive.  Woodmizer price and a WAG on life. 

Cold weather performance could be a problem.  I'd want to know about how cold impacts battery performance.  Heaters built in?

Are the batteries proprietary?   Off the shelf?

There's some great features to the mill.  Woodmizer is continuing their leadership and innovation.  Somebody needed to break into this market.  

Only thing is there's a fine line between cutting edge innovation and bleeding edge technology. 

[Ianab]

I'll just watch this one from the balcony.  

Yeah, I'm not rushing out to buy one either, but like watching the technology progress. 

When I started work was probably just after "bag phones". We didn't get cell coverage out in the provinces until the 1/2 brick Nokia days. The company I worked for sold them, so as a field tech I got one. From memory they were about $1400 at the time

Cut to the present day and I'm sitting on the beach in the Cook Islands, ~1500 miles from home, and my $200 smart phone/ pocket computer still works. When I was a kid you would have had to send a telegram from here. :D  They now have a new fibre link, so wifi works like you would expect.

They are also big on solar here. Backup power is still diesel, which is expensive.  So that changes the economics of solar, even if it 1/2s the diesel bill, it makes sense. 

[Ianab]

Only thing is there's a fine line between cutting edge innovation and bleeding edge technology.

Agreed. There is a large line between "cutting edge", and "mainstream". 

Generally there is a few years gap between that bleeding edge and mainstream. But someone has to be at the bleeding edge for it to trickle down, get into mass production, and become "normal". 

Woodmizer won't be making the battery modules, so hopefully they will be some sort of off the shelf unit. Used in 20 different golf carts / lawnmowers etc. 

[Bruno of NH]

I still want to see a chain turner add on up grade .

[moodnacreek]

More electric more problems, more hydraulics more production.

[mudfarmer]

The batteries are a big ??? I get why they used removable that charge on a separate base (take home and charge at night, take out to civilization where there is infrastructure to charge, etc etc) but it is jacking the cost wayyyy up whether it is the form factor, the sourcing or the markup. That's why I'd rather roll my own on the batteries. LiFePO4 that I bought in 2019 a friend just paid a third, not much else is getting cheaper but PV and batteries sure are -- there is still more money from our taxes thrown at petroleum every year than that stuff.


moodna we were too poor for hydraulics, dad built a wood splitter to run off the allis chalmers about the time I moved out :D him and I used to play with electric stuff he'd bring home from work on the kitchen table, one time he smuggled home a 6" chunk of fiber optic cable when it first came out and I made a flexible flashlight with an enclosed incandescent bulb! Not long after I was "cloning" cell phones with a reflashed OKI900, magicman and Ianab maybe know what I'm talking about.

[Southside]

I am not sure how one can justify spending 27K on a manual mill, or $20K after I pay for part of it .  The economics will be hard to justify with the real world production reality of a manual mill.

[OzarkChris]

  In fact the Boise Cascade Plywood plant that was my first paying job did the same thing.    

Back before the dark days of EPA over reach (mid/late 60 - early 70s) most mills used bark, sawdust, scraps, etc for kilns, power and other such things. Everything that was burnable went into the wigwam burners. EPA, DEQs, etc shut them down because they caused smoke pollution - this, by the way, bankrupted many towns in the PNW and put most of the small mom & pop mills out of business. Those that could afford to, started using diesel, gas, other fossil fuels to run steam generators to kiln dry their product.
The mom & pops that survived the wigwam catastrophe were put out of business by the spotted white owl a few years later.

Live & learn, but sometimes the old ways were just better and much less expensive than the alternatives. 

[Ljohnsaw]

If @MartyParsons is following this, I'm open to field testing and providing a review   ;) But seriously, it needs a loader of some sort, whether it be hydraulic or a ramp with a winch. An electric chain turner should be easy as well.

This would look great behind my Cyber Truck!

[rusticretreater]

It seems to me that is this is along the lines of a "concept car".  But it is also aimed at the new suckers who think it will be a great thing for the urban miller.

The difference between a 25hp gas LT15Wide and the battery powered one is $16,000.  The batteries warranty is for 5 years.  Guess what happens year 6? Another $9-16K? That would  make the cost to run the mill $2000 + usual expenses per year.  Really expensive paperweight.

Will the batteries still be available?  What will they cost?  If everyone is scrambling for batteries for EVs, tools and phones, prices might super spike.  I bet anyone who has one of these will be selling it and folks will be converting them to use other power sources.  This is the same road that electric cars are traveling. No thanks.

[Ron Wenrich]

Toyota has developed an EV with a 932 mile range and a 10 minute recharge.  They think it will be on the market in 4-5 yrs.

Chances are, by the time the batteries expire, a newer and cheaper version will be available.  The amount of R&D going into battery technology will make the markets more competitive.  Just because the warranty is for 5 yrs doesn't mean the batteries automatically expire at that time.  I have a truck with 135k miles on it and it had a 3 yr/50k mile warranty on it.  Still running after 18 yrs.

[widetrackman]

If you got lots of money best thing about this new designed battery LT 15, is a 6 month delivery, when I and others have to wait 1 year & 5 months for a LT 40/50 which has been in production for years with very minor changes. This delivery time for a 40/50s Sucks in respect to delivery of redesigned 15.

[Magicman]

and a 10 minute recharge

That would be some serious amperage going into that battery to replace the energy that was used to travel 932 miles.  The Laws of Physics will not be denied.

Of course the "loss factor/efficiency rating" of the batteries is always at work meaning that you always put more energy into charging than you get out.

[OlJarhead]

OK, I gave this some thought and want to say "Kudo's to Wood-Mizer" for their innovation.

I think anyone in a warm climate or indoor setting for their mill with abundant backup power (generator, wall socket whatever) may find a benefit here and of course, once someone builds a new product like this it will likely cause others to pursue similar designs and likely enhance the market overall.

However, in cold climates even LiFePo4's won't work.  At 20F they stop taking a charge and at 0F they stop providing power.  They then have to be warmed up enough to be able to take a charge.  This is my worry at my cabin now because I haven't moved my batteries into my heated room (where I will burn propane all winter to keep them warm).  If they get cold my lights will go out and stay there until spring unless I warm up the batteries.

This would be an issue in a HUGE sawmilling market area like the PNW.  It gets cold here and stays cold for months on end.  My LT40 has spent only a few months indoors since I bought it in early 2016.  It would not work for me.

However, I'm sure lots of folks will enjoy a battery powered mill in the south where it's warm.

Not going to get into how to charge those batteries up (coal, Hydro etc) because that's another issue all together.

As for H2H (not H2 by the way), Toyota appears to have solved this issue and it can be made from water.  The real issue as I see it is distribution but I'm standing by my believe that battery power will diminish just like steam did and ICE will rule the powered world.

[Resonator]

Huge R&D in the battery industry world right now, not just in EV cars. The big name manufacturers in the construction equipment world have introduced battery-electric equipment models already; excavators, backhoes, loaders etc. Their selling point is often what the long term cost of operation is, Batteries and electricity vs. cost of fuel and engine maintenance. 
With the way things are trending, an electric LT 40 doesn't seem all that far fetched.

[Southside]

Wouldn't the guy with the building and wall socket just plug in his mill and run an electric mill instead of a battery one?  

[Ron Wenrich]

Depends if you need 3 phase or not.  We ran our 3 phase off a gen set.  It was cheaper than hooking up to the electric company, even though the lines ran at the front of the property.

[rusticretreater]

The Japanese automaker says it has found a new material that will help commercialize the elusive, long-awaited solid state battery, but it's light on details.

Toyota is touting a solid state battery and it is not due until 2027 if at all.  Quite expensive right now and they need to figure out how to manufacture it inexpensively.  If they can, then the problem is solved.  But only if they can get enough of the "new material" or make enough.  I think its one of those super materials that can only be made in small quantities.  Its like the super hot pepper.  Sure you can make one, lets see you do it again and again with no issues.

[Southside]

Are they trying to get 1.21 jiga watts out of a Mr Fusion to run the flux capacitor?  ;D