Electric Tractors Present ‘Greatest Opportunity in the World’ for Alabama Dealer

As dealers are stressing about electric powered farm machinery entering the industry, Columbiana Tractor’s Chris Mundy is generating moves to set his dealership up for results with electrical considerably into the potential.

“You’ve received to be pondering exterior of the box regularly to expand your company,” suggests Mundy, a handling associate at Columbiana Tractor. “If we can present something that no just one else has, it provides us a enormous option to get ahead of our competitors.”

Columbiana Tractor, a solitary-retail store dealership in Westover, Ala., is Solectrac’s to start with accredited supplier in the southeastern U.S. Columbiana Tractor joins Brim Tractor, an 8-retail outlet dealership in Washington and Oregon, as the only two Solectrac-certified dealers in the U.S. as of May well.

Mundy found out Solectrac via a LinkedIn link with Glen Ezell, Solectrac’s director of supplier improvement and longtime tractor industry veteran. Mundy noticed Ezell’s likes on Solectrac’s LinkedIn posts, so Mundy decided to appear into the organization and concept Ezell.

“You’ve acquired to be wondering outside the house of the box continuously to expand your business…” – Chris Mundy

“I saw the best opportunity in the world to be one particular of the to start with tractor dealers in the nation to be a aspect of this,” Mundy suggests.

Columbiana Tractor carries LS Tractor, Branson Tractor, Titan Put into practice, Sunward America, Bobcat, Altoz and Scag Energy Equipment manufacturers. Mundy believed the dealership’s customers — mainly equestrians, passion farmers and specialty crop growers — would advantage from the quieter, cleaner operations of an electric tractor.

“The equestrian aspect is exactly where we’re looking at a great deal of folks inquire,” Mundy says, “and I consider as horsepower progresses, which is likely to get us onto pastime farms and row crops.”

Delivering, Obtaining Guidance

Prior to signing on as aspect of Solectrac’s dealership network, Mundy satisfied with Mani Iyer, Solectrac’s CEO, and Ezell to question questions about the aid the manufacturer would present for servicing electric tractors.

By the end of the conversation, Mundy claims he felt confident that Columbiana Tractor would be equipped to remedy customers’ concerns about support and offer the similar high level of service on the new electrical tractors as it would with any other piece of equipment.

The obstacle of providing and servicing electric gear is somewhat lower for Columbiana Tractor, as the dealership has a service supervisor who came from Honda and is familiar with electric powered automobiles. This company supervisor and the dealership in turn have a far better understanding of the safety practices and servicing that appear with electrical automobiles.

Solectrac will provide various times of palms-on training. The education will emphasis on electric technological innovation mainly because the techs already know tractors and the dealership’s shoppers, says Martha Hennigan, director of sales operations and advertising at Solectrac. Mundy is owning a person technician go by way of training to get started.

“If you have a dealership that has the right coaching and aid from the manufacturer, the relaxation is likely to be good,” Mundy says.

Columbiana Tractor just lately built a new dealership, and although Mundy did not know he’d be carrying electric powered tractors at the time of its construction, the new spot supplies enough home to dedicate to an electrical assistance bay when the time arrives.

The first up-entrance components and inventory financial investment to sell Solectrac’s electrical tractors isn’t considerably for Columbiana Tractor, according to Mundy. The tractor’s battery lifecycle is 2,500 cycles with a runtime of 3-6 hours, dependent on the load, so Mundy claims the dealership won’t stock batteries instantly. The dealership has typical tractor elements on hand now.

“Education is essential for the reason that clients really do not know if you don’t toss it out there…” – Chris Mundy

“It’s likely to be vital for the customer to know that it is going to be normal upkeep, and that is fairly substantially it,” Mundy states. “There’s not a great deal of that to be completed as perfectly.”

Columbiana Tractor options to have loaner tractors out there to give shoppers must their device need to have servicing.

Marketing Electrical

The dealership will also use the loaners for demonstrations, which Mundy sees as key to profits of the new line. Columbiana Tractor held an open up dwelling in March and ran a Solectrac e25 25-horsepower compact 4WD tractor in the area guiding the constructing. Mundy states the dealership gained a great response from prospects who observed the electric powered equipment in action.

In truth, Columbiana Tractor designed two income of Solectrac tractors inside the very first couple days of asserting its qualified dealership standing.

The tractors are going to buyers who have horse arenas at their homes and hobby farms. Mundy states the consumers must obtain the tractor in just a 7 days of closing the sale, and individuals buyers are extremely energized about their new electric powered equipment.

Columbiana Tractor can make an effort to be certain their shoppers are self-confident in their acquiring selection, and that mentality doesn’t modify with the addition of equipment with a new electric power resource, Mundy states.

The moment consumers move out of their ease and comfort zone, utilization of electric tractors will “spread like wildfire,” he suggests.

“This is a huge opportunity for schooling about what is down the highway for electrical tractors,” Mundy claims.

“I think you are going to have a division of clients who want to do things far more inexperienced, and I imagine schooling is key due to the fact buyers do not know if you never throw it out there.”