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In America those orange triangles are mounted to the backs of farm tractors, construction equipment, and Amish horse-drawn carriages -- all slow-moving vehicles.
So it's a microcar or Mopedauto ? Those cars you can drive at the age of 15 in NRW-Germany with a scooter licence, that only drive 45km/h ? Can we convert a regular car into a 45km/h car drivable with scooter licence? Would it get the same cheap Ensurance ? A Ligier-micorcar cost about 300 Euro a year of liability ensurance at my car ensurer. I wonder what would a converted VW-UP cost?
The cheese slicer is a sculpture in Ånäset indicating that you are entering the "cheese region" symbolic for the special area where the västerbotten cheese is made. Similar to the champagne region is the mecca for bubbly wine.
yes, and couple of other award winning cheeses like "svedjan ost" (svedjan,😂 placename inducating primitive agricultural beginnings, ost=cheese)... so they indicate quality cheese, bit further north you enter guldriket (land with gold)
Kind of funny that they make a sculpture of a Norwegian invention. To show that you are entering the "cheese region" in Sweden. Instead of making a sculpture of a cheese or cheeses.😄
In Germany there is a statement written into law (StVO) which states that without good reason a 'motor vehicle must not travel so slowly as to impede the flow of traffic'. Even farming traffic tests the legendary patience of German folk.
Same law exists here in Sweden. Roads are classified different, on Highways and some "main" roads it's prohibited to drive these slow vehicles, mopeds, tractors, and so on.
@@NiclasHorn Det gäller på alla vägar som klassas som "motortrafikled". Finns ingen specificerad hastighet, runt stor-Stockholm är massvis med vägar 70km/h klassade som motortrafikled. Det har egentligen ingen hastighetsklassning, men typyiskt motorvägar, tänk e4 från väsby till södertälje (via essingen) alla dom är motortrafikleder. Det har inget med hastighetsbegränsning att göra egentligen även om det oftast är högre fart på dom vägar klassade som motortrafikled. En landsväg på landet är ju inte det klassad som en sån led, men massvis med andra vägar är det :)
The "standard" trick for reduction gearing for EPA traktors was usually to put a second transmission in, and locking it in first gear ;) I'm not from sweden, but i have a lot of friends there. The tractor thing was also done here in norway, where i'm from, but never under any state control, and it ended a long time ago. I know of a 1927 Nash that has been tractorized locally
"The "standard" trick" Practiced by a fair number of youths was to have a tiny, innocuous looking -something- close to the gear shift, which had a fishing line tied to it, when you pulled it, you removed the block on the transmission.
This was removed a couple of years ago, now you can instead do it electronally by programming the ecu to only do 30kmh. Or you can have a little box that controls the speed to 30kmh, it is called h-regg.
I have some questions about those a-traktors could you help me? I would like to buy one from sweden and drive it 1700km to slovakia but i dont know anyone who is swedish and if I can unlock the speed somehow etc.
@@sajkin9705 why would you buy an a-traktor from Sweden? What's the reasoning behind it? A-traktors cost A LOT of money, a normal volvo cost maybe $1000 then make it into an a-traktor which costs maybe $300-500 then suddenly you can sell your newly built a-traktor for $4000-6000.
To make things clear: The EPA tractor was typically used as a loophole (for kids to drive slick rides). Officially the EPA was classified as an agriculture machine. This allowed for it to be operated by an underage, and at the same time to access public roads. Of course, most EPA’s were in fact never intended for agriculture; they were built to be toys for kids.
@@mjouwbuisNot exactly. We have small "cars" meant for disabled people that are basically mopets on 4 wheels (brommobiel). But none of that agricultural history. Their top speed is 45 km/h and they are not allowed on highways. I don't see them a lot.
@@MartinMaat Another Dutchie here. We also have decommissioned cars that are allowed to run 25 km/h. They officially classify as agriculture vehicles, but can be any kind of car or van.
@@MetaView7Yes. All type of vehicles that have a motor (electric or combustion), and can travel in speeds higher then 20km/h needs a insurance in Sweden.
In Finland, the legislation is just as bizarre - you can get a "T" driver's license at the age of 15, which allows one to drive _any_ tractor ... and therefore there is a sizeable business of retrofitting ATV:s with all the things that you need to get the thing registered as a tractor. So we have these ATVs with cabs that have yellow license plates (shared by all "special" vehicles here, I think) and the same big warning sign being driven around by teenagers. The term is "traktorimönkijä" and the rich kids usually drive those Polaris ones that you usually see only in documentaries about US national forest service 😂
Fun fact i've noticed: in South Ostrobothnia youngsters with T-licence go to school in their familys biggest 4-wheel drive tractors. In Lapland like in Muonio they come to school using snowmobiles.
@@williamgallop9425 Yeah, kids running 250k€ John Deeres, Fendts, Valtras and whatnot at town when they're not needed on the field has always been a thing in the "Finnish Texas".
In the 70s, when I was 14, I learned to drive in a 50s Ford pickup while working for my uncle in South Dakota, USA. It was totally legal as long as I was employed in agriculture and on the job.
In the Netherlands we have something similar. MMBS vehicles (cars) intended for agricultural purposes, same sign as in Sweden and maximum speed 45 km/h.
As a Swed i do drive a Apa-tractor and im my opinion its a good thing because i do learn to drive safely on the road. If ur curious i drive a 2005 V70 2.5T
Thanks. Matthias for this interesting video. My wife and I took a trip to Sweden a few years ago. We bought a new Volvo under their overseas delivery programme. Under this programme you purchase the car at your local dealership in the United States and pick the car up at the factory in Gothenburg. After taking delivery of the car we drove around Gothenburg for a day or so then got on the motorway to drive to Oslo. While in Gothenburg I can confirm your statement that about every other car is a Volvo, I would say that at least half of them were, although, when you get away from Gothenburg, it's probably less than 50%. While driving around other parts of Sweden - we later drove from Oslo to Stockholm, then back to Gothenburg, we saw many vintage American cars, so I am able to confirm your second observation. However, we did not see any EPA or A tractors
One reason might be that they don't go on any motorway, and that they are not at all popular or common in cities, but is definitely mostly a thing for rural areas, historically and culturally.
@@waddsbadds that might be because they are not common in larger citys, but in smaller one. I live about 1 hour from gotenburg and see a-traktorer every school day(and there are like 6 people that own a-traktorer in my class)
@@Fransenn I mind that you don't mind. You are giving legitimacy to inconsiderate practices on the basis that it doesn't affect *you personally* . There will come a time when your indifference will no longer be tolerated and you will be made to walk wherever you want to go, no matter how quickly you would like to get there.
The biggest difference be😢tween EPA-traktor and A-traktor is the speed-reduktion. Originally, the EPA-traktor had to have a gear-ratio of 10:1. They were only allowed to drive maximum 30, but could drive much faster. I had a friend with a very high revving Volvo traktor. Sounded like a Ferrari. He broke a couple of engines every year... The A-traktor is made to only being capable of a toppspeed of 30 km/h. First it was by combining 2 gearboxes. With the new rules, they are as you said electronically limited to 30. Wich now has started to be a problem... Some use an override switch. With means that you have vehicles capable of 200+, without any legal force to use seatbelts or winter-tyres. This has caused some serious accidens.
Maybe raise the speedlimit from 30 to 60 so people dont have to adjust it. even bicycles are faster than 30 km/h no wonder they are tuning it. 50 is a way smaller nuisance on the road and fast enough legaly that you dont have to violate the law. if you have to violate the law to go faster than 30, I understand the thinking of why not go for 200, fine most likely is the exact same anyway. make it regulated like a moped, reviewed by TÜV or what ever.
As a truck driver in Sweden,I encountered many of these slow driving cars that suddenly turned to overclocked beasts once they reached their favourite drifting spots.Specialy over the weekends,they were the music for my ears,when I parked overnight on enormous shopping mall parkings,empty and screaming for something funny to happen.And it did happen,on regular basis,witness are the black tyre stripes you can find all across Sweden in industrial areas and shopping mall parking lots.It is,on my advice a good way to learn driving skills,allbeit a little noisy and sometimes dangerous.
Having learned to drive Canada, at 16 I had the driver's license. In rural Canada it was not uncommon for kids to drive as soon as they could reach the pedals and look over the dashboard. The same rule to be applied in Sweden makes sense, especially where public transportation is scarce. Now there are electric cars that can be easily set for those speeds and well, that's the future for Swedish rural kids.
Electric? Heck no! There's no sound! No smoke! The thing is huge fire and toxic hazard. It's a no go. Rather ride around in a wood powered steam engine.
The "solution" in Norway and Sweden is that we let 16 year olds take the "light-bike-license", which means they can drive motorbikes with up to 125cc (they usually go to around 100 km/h on flat roads), but this is a pretty bad idea in my opinion. Also the usual winter conditions 1/3 of the year makes this even more dangerous to be the only alternative in many parts of the countries. I think 16 year olds should rather be able to take a drivers license for car, maybe with some restrictions.
They are pretty much everywhere here where I live, and for me it is quite annoying actually. Some of them are really expensive cars (a lot more expensive than what I drive). And it makes traffic for everyone else a bit unsafe. But then again I have also been young (not as rich as to own a EPA/A-tractor though) and had a moped that did exceed the speed limit on cycling roads and that made it unsafe for everyone also... So I do get it, but it is annoying... Specially with the "Moped cars" that could do 50 Km/h on the same roads and are so much "unsafer" than a normal car converted to A-tractor on the same road doing 30... But then again, many of these 30 Km/h only A-tractor converted cars have a hidden switch to electronically make them normal again and for a 15 year old (with sometimes tinkered/tuned engines and much horsepower) doing 200 Km/h with a flick of switch makes it really unsafe again... I don't know what to do about it actually... it's just weird...
Would be great if the rules were more similar to the 45kmh moped cars. Well really, anything that can't do 70 is a nuisance on country roads, especially if it's the size of an actual car, but if they can keep up with city traffic that's still a good tradeoff versus a lack of crash safety for example. Of course if we pretend that these are actually for use as tractors, 30kmh rule has good reasons, the lack of a rear suspension in older models (for added load) and the fact that you can still brake a heavy trailer from those speeds just with your car's brakes. There's still an EU rule that says you can pull a heavy trailer with a passenger car and/or with no trailer brakes as long as you stay below 25kmh. Other than farmers, I think showmen also profited from that since they were often using road tractors and simple trailers. If these are basically used as sans permis vehicles the rules definitely need to be reworked. Bear in mind I'm not from Sweden so I might not get the full picture.
when i grew up in sweden in the eighties, one of my friends took over an old full size scania truck from his fathers company, removed the tipper bed, registered it as an a-traktor and became famous for driving the largest portable road block in the county. however his actual scheme failed, he did not manage to pick up even one girl during those years as he cruised around desperately looking for somebody to be impressed ;)
The biggest safety concern is that it is very easy to manipulate the electronic speed limiters. Many of the A-tractors are driven very fast and there are a lot of accidents. Just imaging a 15 year old going 160 km/h with giggling friends crammed in to the vehicle.
Yeah that is very concerning! If rural sweeden is at the point where the youth is gonna be dependent on a vehicle regardless, lets at least make sure its a safe one for everyone involved. I'm thinking maybe something like E-bikes and or those electric micro vehicles that are designed for elderly. The main idea I have is they should be compatible with use on bike lanes, and probably be followed up with investment into bike lanes on main roads with high speed limits to accomodate them, as well as other micromobility options.
To the non swedes seing this: Ad our loooong cold winters and a public transport system that really doesn't work so well rurally or between neighbouring counties to the equation. Long distandes, cold, a dismantled bus net and if LUCKY a commuter train every or every other hour makes it rather difficult to hang out with friends. Meeting half way at a gas station and hanging in a cosy car, beats riding a moped for 50 minutes or wasting half a day on a commuter train and waiting on a platform in a snowstorm to see your friend's. I know what I would choose.
@@wizardrhyme9597 I did that as well when I was young, only difference was that I got a KMX 125 and ran it with off-road tires since I mostly rode on dirt roads anyways.
Why can't they do the same thing at normal speeds? The US has no rural public transport and Swedish-type winters in the extreme Northern states, but you still have to drive at a legal speed with vehicles that can reach minimum and maximum speed limits.
At least you have rural trains that run regularly. Even in our mid sized cities here in the US we barely get a train to the next city a few times a day. And it only stops at one station. No one can beat the failure of public transit in the US. Nice try though.
There are a couple of suggested changes to the rules that might change things. Now the maximum speed for A-traktors is 30, while the normal speed limit in towns are 40 or 50. You can already buy a 2 seater 4 wheel moped car that has 45 as max speed, so it's suggested to change to this for A-tractors too. As it's not too difficult to manipulate the speed limit, and there are ofcourse kids who do that and with more vehicles more accidents happen. There is no requirement to use seatbelts now, but this might soon change.
@@GegoXaren moped cars are more dangerous and less like real cars. These young people get to learn how to drive and fix cras long before they get the normal car licence which is great.
@@GegoXaren Tf you talking about, the cars are litterally made out of plastic to make them lighter and they dont even have to go through crash testing. Also personally i have so say fuck moped cars, just buy a real car when you turn 18. they cost the same as a real fucking car and can only go 45 and are made of fucking plastic. Huge waste of money
@@GegoXaren Crash one at the same speed as in any car and the result is more serious injuries than in the car, so in that sense, they're more dangerous.
There is a small but important factor missing here. You do need a license to drive a tractor, a tractor license. It use to be that every higher license you took, you automatically all the once under. So in the old days, if you got a Bus license you got all the licenses. This was change in the 90s so you have to take each and every license seperatly, apart from tractor license. So you got any other license, you automatically got a tractor license. In 2009 they added driving license for a moped. Prior to 2009 you could just jump onto a moped and drive it. But from 2009 you needed a license. This was golden for all the driving schools making bank. But as s side effect of that, every one who got a moped license automatically got a tractor license, and if you have a tractor license you can drive both a EPA and a A-tractor. Because moped is really common, loads of people get moped license, hence loads of people are alowed to drive a A-tractor. When its suddenly get pretty cheap to convert a car to a A-tractor. Say the family got a 8-10 year old car and getting a new one. Its not that much more expensive just converting it than buying a new moped. And the car is typically worth MORE as a A-tractor than a car, so you might actually increase the value of it. On top of that, the kid is now well protected with dual side airbags and crumple zone that is waaay over kill for 30km/h. (really more of protection against other motorists). Suddenly the kids get 100 of hours of driving experience. Yes, its a bit slower, but in city and suburb traffic, the diffrance is really not huge. All fine and good? nopp, traffic school start complaining. How hard is it to make a driving test when you have 100 of hours of driving in what is effectively a car. Not at all, you just need a few hours at highway speeds to get used to it. Drivingschools are not happy. Suddenly they decided A-tractors are really really dangerous. Very ironic because they are proven to be way less dangerous than EPA tractors. The thing is, even in city streets, there is a noticeable diffrance between driving at a limited 30 km/h and 40km/h... +VAT. And that give teens that is a bit inexperance the extra time needed to react and learn with really very little danger to people around
In the UK 20mph streets are spreading in the name of safety and less pollution. The problem is keeping down to that speed, especially in a high torque vehicle where the slightest accelerator movement can shoot the speed up to 25mph in seconds. I saw a list of 20mph accidents, one into a bus stop, one into a hairdressers shop, one into a school fence and others. They all had the same reason - looking at the speedometer instead of the road. I found using a low gear with the engine at max revs keeps the speed within limits but does nothing for mpg figures.
Swede here. I've lived abroad since the late 90s, so much of this is new to me. However, when I was growing up, an EPA tractor was essentially seen as an alternative to the moped, which was the slower and safer version of a motorcycle. I personally think of pickup trucks when I think of EPA tractors, and I think it's horrible what they do to fancy modern cars in order to convert them. But I'm all for the kids gaining experience driving at an early age. Not to mention that a tractor is a LOT safer than a moped.
Not really safe when 80% of the epas have switches that make them drive like a normal car. But the stupidest thing is that you can drive these cars with only a moped license.. which makes no sense that you do classes with only a moped, then when you get the license you can just go drive a car with no experience..
@@pancake1751 True. I didn't know about those switches. That certainly should be illegal (I assume it is?) and treated as an offense if found out about. The EPA tractors have always been hotly debated, though. They've been banned and accepted several times; back and forth. I suppose the main reason why they haven't disappeared is because they've become a sort of institution in Sweden. For many kids, having one is one of those milestones you reach on your way to adulthood. But whether that's good or bad, hmm...
@@SpaceCattttt yeah switches or anything that makes the a-traktor go faster is illegal. And if police found you need to have your epa re-registered which is a pain in the ass to make the car fully legal and registered, and it costs a lot of money. Also when a-traktors were made 10-15 years ago the rule was to have 2 gearboxes and you had to make so that when you were in second gear your top speed is 30 but only at max rev limit, so for a volvo 740/940 at max speed (30km/h) you had to rev it to the limit, about 7500-8000 rpm. So basically you had to destroy your motor to be able to drive at 30 km/h. Imagine banging the rev limiter ALL THE TIME to only reach 30 km/h
I thought everybody were familiar with Emperor of cheese: Westerbotten, and the fact that it is made in Burträsk, but apparently not... We live in a world where communication is essential, even for teenagers. The A-traktor is the least bad alternativ for peeople with some financial limits: It's safer than a 2-wheeler or a "mopedbil" (a squimish aluminium or plastic chassi running 45...), it's warmer than a 2-wheeler (tenagers seem to have forgotten have to put on clothes...), they are almost (!) affordable... The downside is lousy fuelconsumption, and the built-in capacity for enraging everybody else. It is though very interesting to see that other countries have different solutions solving the issue of teenage transportation.
In New Jersey, USA I got a "Farmer's License" at 15. It allowed me to drive a "farm vehicle" (with farm license plates). But, only from sunup-sundown, and only for farm business. For me it was our 1962 Chevy 1-ton pickup. Other kids from large farms could be driving 5-ton trucks towing a hay wagon.
You actually need a drivers license for tractor/moped to legally drive an EPA- or an A-tractor in Sweden. They are predominantly driven by teenagers who live outside of the cities, since there aren't sufficient public transport there, and they would otherwise not be able to go anywhere without the parents driving them everywhere. My son has an A-tractor Volvo 740 from 1988, which he usually uses to get to the nearest (several kilometers away) bus stop or train station, in order to get to school or see friends. Most of the time he thinks it just takes too long to drive the entire distance with the A-tractor. Great info in this video, thank you!
Sounds a bit like the French Voitures Sans Permis, that allowed younger people to drive "cars" that were power limited. The main issue there was that there was a significant aftermarket for those who had driving bans for drunk driving... They could still get VSPs and be mobile.
A graduated driver training course sounds perfect. There are classes of license requiring people to drive certain vehicles under specific license. Always felt that such training should be standardized, rather than direct training for one type of vehicle.
Both A-tractors, EPA (always driven by teenage kids) and the legacy cars are rarely found in the larger towns and only very occasionally found in the larger cities. It's mostly a countryside or small town thing in Sweden.
Really quality reporting and editing! Definitely deserves more subs and views! 10/10 One quick note: the effect used for the old-timey footage at 3:46 created a really annoying and super bright flickering that hurt to look at. Might want to dial that effect down in future videos if ever used again.
For the porsche, around where I work there is a Cayenne sitting that is an A-Tractor. And one of my old teachers got one for her son too. Then I've also seen 2015 BMWs being converted as before graduating a person under my grade had one.
I love them, never owned one. I drove a supermoto instead but seeing the Epa's on the road always brings me a smile cause i know that behind the wheel, there's a kid absolutely loving every second of driving. Yeah its annoying to get stuck behind them sometimes but its worth it. Many people want to get them off the roads but if anything i think we should keep them on the roads but allow them to go 50km/h instead like the moped cars
I wouldn't say it only started a year ago I saw these types of vehicles begin their rise in popularity about two or three years ago, one person in the same school year as me had gotten two of these one which was a pickup truck model and one which was a BMW city car model, it felt really weird which is how I've been able to keep track of roughly when it began despite my spotty memory concerning time.
Wait........ this video has only 300 views? it should be a crime to have such a low viewcount with such high production quality... You've earned a new subscriber :)
In the 90’s, in my state in the US, I was given my learners permit at 14. As long as I also took drivers education, I was able to get my license to drive a normal car at 15 with absolutely no restrictions. Now of course one has to be 16 and must drive x hours with a licensed adult. Absolutely crazy they allowed us to drive on roads and freeways so young.
EPA/A tractors also have no restrictions on how much they are allowed to pull. This means if you somehow manage to get an entire apartment complex on wheels with a trailer hinge you are legally allowed to drive it on the road at 15.
Compared to your high production quality, your subscriber count is very low. It's a shame that not more people know about this channel. Keep up the good work.
The law for converting cars to agricultural vehicles (not necessaricly tractors) was far from unique. It existed in The Netherlands as well, maybe still does. I think that category has now been mostly superseded by the 4 wheel moped category which also has existed for a few decades.
I moved from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany to Småland in Sweden about a year ago. I also thought about byuing an a-traktor but because I'm almost old enough for a driver's license for "real" cars and I'm not exactly bathing in money I didn't buy one.
In Örebro last month I saw an Audi A4 wagon, about 2015 vintage with the orange triangle. It had the loudest car stereo I've ever heard and shiny chrome wheels at a ridiculous negative camber. There's a word for people like the kid driving that, but he'll soon be deaf, so won't hear me say it anyway.
There is also a thing in Germany called Ellenator Car - which can be driven with 16 years. It is modifyed to only 3 wheels. But it is allowed to drive faster.
It kinda exists in other countries of Europe with the cars for people not owning a proper driving licence. It is used by youth, people who lost their licence due to bad driving, people who could never passed it and some old people
Well it is definitely safer than driving with scooters on the roads. As well as I can imagine that driving behind those vehicles can be pretty annoying.
in Belgium all cars have become A-Tractors as in most cities and even some rural areas the maximum speed is lowered to 30 km/h, the only difference is that young people can't drive them. And when they at last obtain a license (being 18 yrs or older) often they don't know how to behave and fly off roads driving at least 130 km/h :-)
In NZ we have a similar law for farm owner's vehicles. Any type but limited to 50kph and within 30k round trip from the farm. Not many people know this but some register their vehicle to a friend's farm. No registration or inspection fees. The vehicle can be put back on ordinary rego once re=inspected. A lot of ag machinery only ever goes from one farm to the next.
Living in Canada, where a trip from one town to another is at least 60-70km, this just wouldn't work out. We travel at 10km over the posted speed limit as a norm.
In Australia we have the concept of making aircraft out of cheap parts from the local brand hardware store "Bunnings aircraft, inc", "Bunnings race team" and so-on
I live in Sweden and have had a drivers license for 30 years. The A-tractors are annoying and create more unsafe situations than the safety those would create giving the 15 year olds practice on the roads. There are even 110 km/h roads where the A-tractots are allowed. It would be much better just to let the 15 year olds wait til 16 to get a light motorcycle licence if they want to go quicker than a moped in the 6 months of ridable roads. Or just wait until 18 years of age to get a license for cars.
Would you drive a motorcycle in the winter when there's snow and -20°C?? Guess not!! One reason why 15 year old kids behave like they do depends on how their parents have raised them.
Another important factor to consider is that Sweden can get quite cold, especially up north, so vehicles like mopeds/scooters that are popular among teenagers in many other countries aren't really appropriate for use year-round here. Personally I think they either need to be banned near cities or the speed limit need to be raised (possibly with a stricter license requirement). Their slow speed isn't just an inconvenience for everyone in a regular car, but they also block and delay public transportation, emergency services, and so on. Speaking of public transportation, it exists for a reason and is a perfectly good way for teenagers to get around in cities, there shouldn't be a reason to drive a personal vehicle unless you don't have access to bus or train. Not to mention that A LOT of teens drive these while intoxicated...
A funny detail about Epas is that they keeplimiting them to 30kph while they are, especially the new electronically govenrd versions desinged for higher speeds and thus safer to drive. Yet having a small two seater vehicle mostly made from plastic is allowed to travel at 50kph... This still baffles my mind.
i drove one of these tractors when i was 15 untill i turned 17. i firstly had a Volvo 244 and later i had a Volvo duett. (both was an A-tractor) and i miss that part of my life very often. and i never get mad when im behind one today as i drove one myself when i was that age. i love them and i hope they stay for ever.
As a proud owner of a Saab 9-5 A-tractor i can say that its very usefull and fun of course. Although there are also things called moped bilar (moped cars) that in the same way epa tractors classify as tractors they classify as mopeds. So the moped cars can drive up to 45km/h which i think is a good speed for a-tractors too. I mean, i cant even drive in my citys speed limit whilst the moped cars overtake me. I also think that if your car had backseats before it was build it should be allowed to have and use those too. Because before right this month i think, you could sit as many as youd want in the front and without seatbelts. But if you had backseats that wouldnt necessarily be an issue. And as you said the epa tractors are a good way to learn how to drive to get a normal drivers license. I mean, i didnt know how to use the clutch or nothing but now i watch videos of people failing ther driving school tests and cringe for them.
Swede here, the problem i have is the licence in the driving test to be able to drive them is done on 2 wheels and it's too easy on the theoretical side aswell, and there are no limits on size, so there are 11 tonne A-tractors (i know atleast one that got alot of publicity), converted trucks. The driving test should atleast be on 4 wheels with more theory and the maximum weight should be like 3 tonnes or something. But then again the government have made it so easy for them so they can flip a switch to switch between EPA and regular car, so many (atleast 1/4 according to an EPA-owner) are driven like a normal car when on the countryside, and many terrible deadly accidents have followed.
In France, the rule is Vehicule Sans Permis (Vehicle without permit). Driven by 14 year olds and people who have no driving licence (drink drivers in rural areas). The regulations control the weight and speed (45kmh max) of the vehicle. The Citroen Ami is built to these regulations.
In the UK, we can drive actual tractors at 16 on public roads. There were 3 farmers sons at my high school who drove tractors to school. I have no problem with this, as I would have loved to drive anything on the roads at 16. I went on my first driving lesson on my 17th birthday.
I love it. We use the exact same triangular "slow moving vehicle" sign here in the states. Except here you only ever see them on the back of farm tractors, construction equipment, and the Amish folk's horse drawn buggies!
Yes, visst är det en dilemma ibland, especially when a 24 meter trailer gets stuck behind an A traktor and the lines follow upp behind. Det kan bli lite discubabla omkörningar, otherwise most teenagers are aware of the situation and very often drive off the road for a while to let traffic pass! Also they keep as far to the right as possible.
There are similarities to farm vehicle laws in the U.S. In New York State for instance, a "farm vehicle weighing 26,000 pounds or less may be operated anywhere within New York State and in any other state as long as that state honors the Covered Farm Vehicle designation. If the vehicle displays a “FARM” plate, it may only be operated within 25 miles of the farm." These could I suppose be cars but are usually pick-up trucks. By the way farm vehicles over 26,000 lbs may be operated up to 150 air miles from the farm. No speed restrictions on these. No commercial license required. Young drivers too.
dont we have something similar in germany. the leichtfahrzeuge? dry mass of 425kg max and 6kw. you can drive them with the Am licence you can get at 15 and drive 45km/h max
The other weird thing is that you take the card for a moped to be allowed to drive this, not one made specifically for cars. If you know how to drive a moped you can drive an a-tractor
So I think there is another reason for the ton of classic cars in Sweden. In the winter they are not putting tons of salt on the roads but sand which is not damaging the car regarding corrosion. Latter is not happen in Sweden.
8:38 holy crap, small world, I drive there almost every day. It looks different now though since there is construction work going on on the left side and the forest is gone.
The weirdest A-traktor I have seen was an ordinary full-grown Scania semi truck with a trailer transporting gravel. With a red triangle at its back and a small kid behind the wheel. As far as I understand, there are no real rules anymore for what kind of vehicle you want to convert to a "tractor". A battle tank, a space shuttle, a mining excavator. Take whatever you like. As long as you put a red triangle on it, you are good.
I can see these vehicles being very useful not only for rural teenagers, but for rural senior citizens who can no longer drive a normal car safely but still need some way to shop for food, go to doctor's appointments, and so forth. In addition, the issue of these vehicles causing unsafe conditions for other drivers seems to be quite exaggerated. If the roads are properly marked to safely allow drivers to pass these vehicles, what is the big deal?
BTW. Volvo is a wholly owned Chinese company. That aside as long as these vehicles do not have driving licence requirements (if they do then get rid of the rule) then a drunk driver or one who habitually speeds loses their ability to drive their big Volvo but have to drive for a year or more in a slow old tractor with a big red triangle on it. The car of shame :-).
I guess we might get that trend here also, Citroën Ami & opel rocks electric. They are not driven by young ones... at least I've seen only a low percentage with that. But I see middle age and older people with them in Kassel. When I asked on at bauhaus they told me "yea, normally I drive by bike/public transport and avoid cars, but for getting goods or weather is not good/cold... its nice to have a smoll one, that can fit on a small slot. I'm sharing a parling space in the garage with my neighbour and we only need a normal power plug." I guess there is a market for smaller, practical, electric cars with 50-120km range. At least if they cost less then 6000-8500€ - this is what people I know pay for their city/second car that they normally buy used.
An EPA tractor used in agriculture in the old days was a converted old truck not a car. These were forbidden to be driven by young people without a driving license (18 years old) sometime in the -90s due to the heavy weight of the vehicle and all the serious accidents it created. But these converted heavy trucks are still used today in agriculture for transport between fields and warehouses on the farm 👍
I moved last year to Sweden and I also found those cars interesting. Fortunately I don't find them all the time so I don't see concerns regarding constant traffic jams because of them. Something missing in the video is that they are also used by people that for some reason lost their driver's license. This I find morally and practically wrong because if someone lose the driver's license due to reckless driving they can be again back at the road.
Yeah I live in Denmark and I can so badly see how this is problematic. I mean traffic safety is one thing but there's also many other issues to consider like drunk driving where I have to question if it really is that safe for both the driver and the other people on the road if a drunken 15 year old can be allowed to drive a tractor with how that stuff affects your senses. I think the much safer solution honestly would be expansions into bicycle infrastructure and micro mobility solutions that are more tailored to fit within those parameters, like E-bikes or if absolutely needed because of distance, maybe those little electronic microscooters usually designed for the elderly. Just my 2 cents on it as someone who is also concerned about traffic safety and car dependency.
@@johan.ohgren The problem is, these people are likely still gonna get drunk, but they'd still be dependent on the A-tractor to get home rather than a means in which they're not a risk of safety to everyone else or themselves. Like Do you think just because a law forbids something that it just doesn't happen? As long as there's a bigger underlying issue thats unadressed it'll keep being the case.
@@johan.ohgren Again, Don you think that'll stop them? The police can't possibly be enough places for it to be a liability for many, plus you gave to realise something. Most teenagers are insanely stupid, and even more so when drunk. And this is coming from someone who was a teenager themselves just 4 years ago, I couldn't stand my peers! Even if there's a high risk of heir tractor getting confiscated they won't care until they're in an accident so big it affects them negatively for the rest of their life like putting them in a wheelchair or requiring a limb to be amputated. They have little to none risk assessment and it's even worse when they're drunk. This is why it's so important to make any way they get around in a safe and practical one where like I said, it's not of serious harm to themselves or anyone else like E-bikes.
@@drdewott9154 how is this different than drunk driving as an adult though? If they have this complete lack of risk assessment, wouldn't they just drive a regular car instead of they didn't have an epa.
I built an A-traktor with my father and I love to drive it even if I can only go 30km/h. Not every A-traktor's top speed is 30km/h because people manipulate them to go faster. I know a guy who manipulated his by using 1 single 50cm long cable. It took him less than 5 minutes to do and when he was done he took it out for a test drive and topped at 180km/h. This is very illegal ofcourse. The culture around it is very fun to be a part of and I love it. We party, we drift and we do all kinds of fun stupid shit. My friend drives a white van A-traktor with a huge sticker on the side of it saying "Free candy". He actually does give people free candy if they come forward and ask for it. Last winter me and 6 other people sat at the back of the van and 3 at the front (the driver and 2 passengers) and we started drifting. We flew around like hell at the back of the van because there weren't any seats and I will never forget how fun it was.
the triangle thing, you call a warning sign, means they're not allowed over the speed of 30hm/h, it's not that the car needs to be downpaced to only drive 30km/h, it's just not allowed to drive faster.
0:45 - "Between the cities of Umeå and Skellefteå in Northern Sweden, right outside the tiny town of Ånäset, is where you’ll find them: two giant cheese slicers. Leaning on each other, they welcome visitors to an area known as the Kingdom of Cheese. This dairy-wonderland of a name has a lot to do with the locally famous Västerbotten Cheese, which is made only in the nearby village of Burträsk. The cheese slicer, or cheese plane, was invented in 1925 by the Norwegian carpenter Thor Bjørklund. From there, the design, which has barely changed in a century, become widespread across Nordic countries, including Sweden. Compared to an ordinary cheese slicer measuring about 20 cm (8 inches), these two are enormous. Rising 7 meters (23 feet) above the ground and weighing 820 kg (more than 1,800 pounds), these are by far the biggest ones in the world. Whether they have ever been used to slice any cheese is, however, unclear." - source: Atlas Obscura
@@FlambartPhotography Burträsk I think would be classified as a town in english. Sweden don't really have any real name between city = stad and village = by. But some places are way to big to be called village such as Gällivare, Arvidsjaur and Jokkmokk for example but they do fit the criteria for a town
I would like to buy one and transport it to Slovakia (1700km) but i am not sure how it is with the maximum speed. If I can unlock it and drive normally through sweden, dennmark, germany, czechs and here to slovakia. Anyone help? I really like those cars but I have no idea if I can unlock the speed and if I can drive at those plates more than 30kmh
Thanks for watching! Here's more you might like:
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In America those orange triangles are mounted to the backs of farm tractors, construction equipment, and Amish horse-drawn carriages -- all slow-moving vehicles.
ruclips.net/video/YUuaZOocVJg/видео.html
Whatch this u learn
Slow riding reduces drag.
😄
Farmer kids here in The Netherlands still drive tractors to school when there are winter conditions with potential snow.
For good reasons!
So it's a microcar or Mopedauto ? Those cars you can drive at the age of 15 in NRW-Germany with a scooter licence, that only drive 45km/h ?
Can we convert a regular car into a 45km/h car drivable with scooter licence? Would it get the same cheap Ensurance ? A Ligier-micorcar cost about 300 Euro a year of liability ensurance at my car ensurer. I wonder what would a converted VW-UP cost?
The cheese slicer is a sculpture in Ånäset indicating that you are entering the "cheese region" symbolic for the special area where the västerbotten cheese is made. Similar to the champagne region is the mecca for bubbly wine.
yes, and couple of other award winning cheeses like "svedjan ost" (svedjan,😂 placename inducating primitive agricultural beginnings, ost=cheese)... so they indicate quality cheese, bit further north you enter guldriket (land with gold)
Kind of funny that they make a sculpture of a Norwegian invention. To show that you are entering the "cheese region" in Sweden. Instead of making a sculpture of a cheese or cheeses.😄
In Germany there is a statement written into law (StVO) which states that without good reason a 'motor vehicle must not travel so slowly as to impede the flow of traffic'. Even farming traffic tests the legendary patience of German folk.
What is the benchmark for "so slowly" lol?
Same law exists here in Sweden. Roads are classified different, on Highways and some "main" roads it's prohibited to drive these slow vehicles, mopeds, tractors, and so on.
We have that rule on Swedish roads with a speed limit of 110 or faster.
@@NiclasHorn Det gäller på alla vägar som klassas som "motortrafikled". Finns ingen specificerad hastighet, runt stor-Stockholm är massvis med vägar 70km/h klassade som motortrafikled. Det har egentligen ingen hastighetsklassning, men typyiskt motorvägar, tänk e4 från väsby till södertälje (via essingen) alla dom är motortrafikleder. Det har inget med hastighetsbegränsning att göra egentligen även om det oftast är högre fart på dom vägar klassade som motortrafikled. En landsväg på landet är ju inte det klassad som en sån led, men massvis med andra vägar är det :)
@@NiclasHorn also on 80 and 90 and 100
The "standard" trick for reduction gearing for EPA traktors was usually to put a second transmission in, and locking it in first gear ;) I'm not from sweden, but i have a lot of friends there. The tractor thing was also done here in norway, where i'm from, but never under any state control, and it ended a long time ago. I know of a 1927 Nash that has been tractorized locally
"The "standard" trick"
Practiced by a fair number of youths was to have a tiny, innocuous looking -something- close to the gear shift, which had a fishing line tied to it, when you pulled it, you removed the block on the transmission.
This was removed a couple of years ago, now you can instead do it electronally by programming the ecu to only do 30kmh. Or you can have a little box that controls the speed to 30kmh, it is called
h-regg.
I have some questions about those a-traktors could you help me? I would like to buy one from sweden and drive it 1700km to slovakia but i dont know anyone who is swedish and if I can unlock the speed somehow etc.
@@sajkin9705 why would you buy an a-traktor from Sweden? What's the reasoning behind it? A-traktors cost A LOT of money, a normal volvo cost maybe $1000 then make it into an a-traktor which costs maybe $300-500 then suddenly you can sell your newly built a-traktor for $4000-6000.
as a Swede. My mother has told me multiple times that she would kill me if i got an A-tractor
To make things clear: The EPA tractor was typically used as a loophole (for kids to drive slick rides). Officially the EPA was classified as an agriculture machine. This allowed for it to be operated by an underage, and at the same time to access public roads. Of course, most EPA’s were in fact never intended for agriculture; they were built to be toys for kids.
Same in The Netherlands.
@@mjouwbuisNot exactly. We have small "cars" meant for disabled people that are basically mopets on 4 wheels (brommobiel). But none of that agricultural history. Their top speed is 45 km/h and they are not allowed on highways. I don't see them a lot.
@@MartinMaat Another Dutchie here. We also have decommissioned cars that are allowed to run 25 km/h. They officially classify as agriculture vehicles, but can be any kind of car or van.
Does EPA Tractor need insurance?
@@MetaView7Yes. All type of vehicles that have a motor (electric or combustion), and can travel in speeds higher then 20km/h needs a insurance in Sweden.
In Finland, the legislation is just as bizarre - you can get a "T" driver's license at the age of 15, which allows one to drive _any_ tractor ... and therefore there is a sizeable business of retrofitting ATV:s with all the things that you need to get the thing registered as a tractor. So we have these ATVs with cabs that have yellow license plates (shared by all "special" vehicles here, I think) and the same big warning sign being driven around by teenagers. The term is "traktorimönkijä" and the rich kids usually drive those Polaris ones that you usually see only in documentaries about US national forest service 😂
Fun fact i've noticed: in South Ostrobothnia youngsters with T-licence go to school in their familys biggest 4-wheel drive tractors. In Lapland like in Muonio they come to school using snowmobiles.
Let's be honest, at least the ATVs like Polaris RZR or Can-Am Maverick are a lot more sensible option than the moped cars.
@@williamgallop9425 Yeah, kids running 250k€ John Deeres, Fendts, Valtras and whatnot at town when they're not needed on the field has always been a thing in the "Finnish Texas".
In the 70s, when I was 14, I learned to drive in a 50s Ford pickup while working for my uncle in South Dakota, USA. It was totally legal as long as I was employed in agriculture and on the job.
Special vehicles in Sweden have yellow licence plates? That must cause a spot of confusion whenever a British or Dutch vehicle turns up! 🚘🟨😋
In the Netherlands we have something similar. MMBS vehicles (cars) intended for agricultural purposes, same sign as in Sweden and maximum speed 45 km/h.
en dan twee versnellingen toch?
Some UNIMOGS have this.
@@stijn9957 volgens mij wel maar ik rij zelf dan liever brommer dan een auto ombouwen zodat hij slomer gaat
We got those 45 km/h "mopedcars" as well in Sweden... the A-tractor is a good way to use old cars...
@@loeihardepuch5543 except in the winter. As someone who had a moped in sweden. It gets cold on a moped 😅
As a Swed i do drive a Apa-tractor and im my opinion its a good thing because i do learn to drive safely on the road. If ur curious i drive a 2005 V70 2.5T
Thanks. Matthias for this interesting video. My wife and I took a trip to Sweden a few years ago. We bought a new Volvo under their overseas delivery programme. Under this programme you purchase the car at your local dealership in the United States and pick the car up at the factory in Gothenburg. After taking delivery of the car we drove around Gothenburg for a day or so then got on the motorway to drive to Oslo. While in Gothenburg I can confirm your statement that about every other car is a Volvo, I would say that at least half of them were, although, when you get away from Gothenburg, it's probably less than 50%. While driving around other parts of Sweden - we later drove from Oslo to Stockholm, then back to Gothenburg, we saw many vintage American cars, so I am able to confirm your second observation. However, we did not see any EPA or A tractors
One reason might be that they don't go on any motorway, and that they are not at all popular or common in cities, but is definitely mostly a thing for rural areas, historically and culturally.
Vintage american cars are big thing in sweden its been part of a sub cluture sense the 1950s and 60s and bigger today
@@waddsbadds that might be because they are not common in larger citys, but in smaller one. I live about 1 hour from gotenburg and see a-traktorer every school day(and there are like 6 people that own a-traktorer in my class)
800 subs? i thought this was a 100k+ channel. Really great content!
Wow! it's 16K now
Getting stuck behind these things sucks, especially if it is a busy traffic day or a narrow one-track lane.
Or if you are driving a bus on smaller country roads and need to be on time.
i dont mind
@@Fransenn I mind that you don't mind. You are giving legitimacy to inconsiderate practices on the basis that it doesn't affect *you personally* . There will come a time when your indifference will no longer be tolerated and you will be made to walk wherever you want to go, no matter how quickly you would like to get there.
@@rabbiezekielgoldberg2497 If I was affected I would not mind either. There are not enough trees for reckless drivers to wipe themselves out against.
@@mbak7801 Then stay off the roads and stop ruining things for everyone else.
The biggest difference be😢tween EPA-traktor and A-traktor is the speed-reduktion. Originally, the EPA-traktor had to have a gear-ratio of 10:1. They were only allowed to drive maximum 30, but could drive much faster. I had a friend with a very high revving Volvo traktor. Sounded like a Ferrari. He broke a couple of engines every year...
The A-traktor is made to only being capable of a toppspeed of 30 km/h. First it was by combining 2 gearboxes. With the new rules, they are as you said electronically limited to 30. Wich now has started to be a problem... Some use an override switch.
With means that you have vehicles capable of 200+, without any legal force to use seatbelts or winter-tyres.
This has caused some serious accidens.
Maybe raise the speedlimit from 30 to 60 so people dont have to adjust it.
even bicycles are faster than 30 km/h no wonder they are tuning it.
50 is a way smaller nuisance on the road and fast enough legaly that you dont have to violate the law.
if you have to violate the law to go faster than 30, I understand the thinking of why not go for 200, fine most likely is the exact same anyway.
make it regulated like a moped, reviewed by TÜV or what ever.
As a truck driver in Sweden,I encountered many of these slow driving cars that suddenly turned to overclocked beasts once they reached their favourite drifting spots.Specialy over the weekends,they were the music for my ears,when I parked overnight on enormous shopping mall parkings,empty and screaming for something funny to happen.And it did happen,on regular basis,witness are the black tyre stripes you can find all across Sweden in industrial areas and shopping mall parking lots.It is,on my advice a good way to learn driving skills,allbeit a little noisy and sometimes dangerous.
@@Irg3ndw4s 50 is more logical you can't really go on anything bigger than a carriageway
Having learned to drive Canada, at 16 I had the driver's license. In rural Canada it was not uncommon for kids to drive as soon as they could reach the pedals and look over the dashboard. The same rule to be applied in Sweden makes sense, especially where public transportation is scarce. Now there are electric cars that can be easily set for those speeds and well, that's the future for Swedish rural kids.
Electric? Heck no! There's no sound! No smoke! The thing is huge fire and toxic hazard. It's a no go. Rather ride around in a wood powered steam engine.
yes excalty
The "solution" in Norway and Sweden is that we let 16 year olds take the "light-bike-license", which means they can drive motorbikes with up to 125cc (they usually go to around 100 km/h on flat roads), but this is a pretty bad idea in my opinion. Also the usual winter conditions 1/3 of the year makes this even more dangerous to be the only alternative in many parts of the countries.
I think 16 year olds should rather be able to take a drivers license for car, maybe with some restrictions.
They are pretty much everywhere here where I live, and for me it is quite annoying actually. Some of them are really expensive cars (a lot more expensive than what I drive). And it makes traffic for everyone else a bit unsafe. But then again I have also been young (not as rich as to own a EPA/A-tractor though) and had a moped that did exceed the speed limit on cycling roads and that made it unsafe for everyone also... So I do get it, but it is annoying... Specially with the "Moped cars" that could do 50 Km/h on the same roads and are so much "unsafer" than a normal car converted to A-tractor on the same road doing 30...
But then again, many of these 30 Km/h only A-tractor converted cars have a hidden switch to electronically make them normal again and for a 15 year old (with sometimes tinkered/tuned engines and much horsepower) doing 200 Km/h with a flick of switch makes it really unsafe again...
I don't know what to do about it actually... it's just weird...
Would be great if the rules were more similar to the 45kmh moped cars. Well really, anything that can't do 70 is a nuisance on country roads, especially if it's the size of an actual car, but if they can keep up with city traffic that's still a good tradeoff versus a lack of crash safety for example.
Of course if we pretend that these are actually for use as tractors, 30kmh rule has good reasons, the lack of a rear suspension in older models (for added load) and the fact that you can still brake a heavy trailer from those speeds just with your car's brakes.
There's still an EU rule that says you can pull a heavy trailer with a passenger car and/or with no trailer brakes as long as you stay below 25kmh. Other than farmers, I think showmen also profited from that since they were often using road tractors and simple trailers.
If these are basically used as sans permis vehicles the rules definitely need to be reworked. Bear in mind I'm not from Sweden so I might not get the full picture.
Jag hänger med en massa epa killar och typ alla kör lagligt förutom en som kör i 70
Du kan inte göra nåt, regeringen kan (men bryr sig inte)
@@alexanderwingeskog758 when i went to school i had a friend who offered to tune my moped,i instantly thanked no
When I stumbled upon your weird border video I was shocked to see how few subscribers you had. You definitely deserve more!
His main channel (in German) has around 90k subscribers, he only recently started to break out into english content :)
when i grew up in sweden in the eighties, one of my friends took over an old full size scania truck from his fathers company, removed the tipper bed, registered it as an a-traktor and became famous for driving the largest portable road block in the county. however his actual scheme failed, he did not manage to pick up even one girl during those years as he cruised around desperately looking for somebody to be impressed ;)
The biggest safety concern is that it is very easy to manipulate the electronic speed limiters. Many of the A-tractors are driven very fast and there are a lot of accidents. Just imaging a 15 year old going 160 km/h with giggling friends crammed in to the vehicle.
Yeah that is very concerning! If rural sweeden is at the point where the youth is gonna be dependent on a vehicle regardless, lets at least make sure its a safe one for everyone involved. I'm thinking maybe something like E-bikes and or those electric micro vehicles that are designed for elderly. The main idea I have is they should be compatible with use on bike lanes, and probably be followed up with investment into bike lanes on main roads with high speed limits to accomodate them, as well as other micromobility options.
The Netherlands has this issue with their 25 k/hr "snorfietsen"
everyone drives like 140 km/h here on the highway in Alabama even though the limit is 112.6 km/h
To the non swedes seing this: Ad our loooong cold winters and a public transport system that really doesn't work so well rurally or between neighbouring counties to the equation. Long distandes, cold, a dismantled bus net and if LUCKY a commuter train every or every other hour makes it rather difficult to hang out with friends. Meeting half way at a gas station and hanging in a cosy car, beats riding a moped for 50 minutes or wasting half a day on a commuter train and waiting on a platform in a snowstorm to see your friend's. I know what I would choose.
Kids are getting soft. They should learn to dive a tuned moped at 100 km/h though any weather like back in the old days. It breeds strong hardy men.
@@skitidet4302We have plenty of them on the roads too. I went with the a1 license and drove a ktm 125 supermoto instead.
@@wizardrhyme9597 I did that as well when I was young, only difference was that I got a KMX 125 and ran it with off-road tires since I mostly rode on dirt roads anyways.
Why can't they do the same thing at normal speeds? The US has no rural public transport and Swedish-type winters in the extreme Northern states, but you still have to drive at a legal speed with vehicles that can reach minimum and maximum speed limits.
At least you have rural trains that run regularly. Even in our mid sized cities here in the US we barely get a train to the next city a few times a day. And it only stops at one station. No one can beat the failure of public transit in the US. Nice try though.
In Belgium soon every car will become a virtual "A-Traktor" with 30km/h limits being imposed about everywhere.
Thank you! As a Swede, I finally have a video to link people who ask
There are a couple of suggested changes to the rules that might change things. Now the maximum speed for A-traktors is 30, while the normal speed limit in towns are 40 or 50. You can already buy a 2 seater 4 wheel moped car that has 45 as max speed, so it's suggested to change to this for A-tractors too.
As it's not too difficult to manipulate the speed limit, and there are ofcourse kids who do that and with more vehicles more accidents happen. There is no requirement to use seatbelts now, but this might soon change.
I think we should just ban them, as we now have moped cars.
@@GegoXaren moped cars are more dangerous and less like real cars. These young people get to learn how to drive and fix cras long before they get the normal car licence which is great.
@@ebbewedstedt3620
They are not more dangerous.
Bugger off.
@@GegoXaren Tf you talking about, the cars are litterally made out of plastic to make them lighter and they dont even have to go through crash testing. Also personally i have so say fuck moped cars, just buy a real car when you turn 18. they cost the same as a real fucking car and can only go 45 and are made of fucking plastic. Huge waste of money
@@GegoXaren Crash one at the same speed as in any car and the result is more serious injuries than in the car, so in that sense, they're more dangerous.
There is a small but important factor missing here.
You do need a license to drive a tractor, a tractor license. It use to be that every higher license you took, you automatically all the once under. So in the old days, if you got a Bus license you got all the licenses. This was change in the 90s so you have to take each and every license seperatly, apart from tractor license. So you got any other license, you automatically got a tractor license.
In 2009 they added driving license for a moped. Prior to 2009 you could just jump onto a moped and drive it. But from 2009 you needed a license. This was golden for all the driving schools making bank. But as s side effect of that, every one who got a moped license automatically got a tractor license, and if you have a tractor license you can drive both a EPA and a A-tractor.
Because moped is really common, loads of people get moped license, hence loads of people are alowed to drive a A-tractor.
When its suddenly get pretty cheap to convert a car to a A-tractor. Say the family got a 8-10 year old car and getting a new one. Its not that much more expensive just converting it than buying a new moped. And the car is typically worth MORE as a A-tractor than a car, so you might actually increase the value of it. On top of that, the kid is now well protected with dual side airbags and crumple zone that is waaay over kill for 30km/h. (really more of protection against other motorists).
Suddenly the kids get 100 of hours of driving experience. Yes, its a bit slower, but in city and suburb traffic, the diffrance is really not huge.
All fine and good? nopp, traffic school start complaining. How hard is it to make a driving test when you have 100 of hours of driving in what is effectively a car. Not at all, you just need a few hours at highway speeds to get used to it. Drivingschools are not happy. Suddenly they decided A-tractors are really really dangerous. Very ironic because they are proven to be way less dangerous than EPA tractors.
The thing is, even in city streets, there is a noticeable diffrance between driving at a limited 30 km/h and 40km/h... +VAT. And that give teens that is a bit inexperance the extra time needed to react and learn with really very little danger to people around
In the UK 20mph streets are spreading in the name of safety and less pollution. The problem is keeping down to that speed, especially in a high torque vehicle where the slightest accelerator movement can shoot the speed up to 25mph in seconds. I saw a list of 20mph accidents, one into a bus stop, one into a hairdressers shop, one into a school fence and others. They all had the same reason - looking at the speedometer instead of the road. I found using a low gear with the engine at max revs keeps the speed within limits but does nothing for mpg figures.
Swede here. I've lived abroad since the late 90s, so much of this is new to me.
However, when I was growing up, an EPA tractor was essentially seen as an alternative to the moped, which was the slower and safer version of a motorcycle.
I personally think of pickup trucks when I think of EPA tractors, and I think it's horrible what they do to fancy modern cars in order to convert them.
But I'm all for the kids gaining experience driving at an early age. Not to mention that a tractor is a LOT safer than a moped.
Not really safe when 80% of the epas have switches that make them drive like a normal car. But the stupidest thing is that you can drive these cars with only a moped license.. which makes no sense that you do classes with only a moped, then when you get the license you can just go drive a car with no experience..
@@pancake1751 True. I didn't know about those switches. That certainly should be illegal (I assume it is?) and treated as an offense if found out about.
The EPA tractors have always been hotly debated, though. They've been banned and accepted several times; back and forth.
I suppose the main reason why they haven't disappeared is because they've become a sort of institution in Sweden.
For many kids, having one is one of those milestones you reach on your way to adulthood. But whether that's good or bad, hmm...
@@SpaceCattttt yeah switches or anything that makes the a-traktor go faster is illegal. And if police found you need to have your epa re-registered which is a pain in the ass to make the car fully legal and registered, and it costs a lot of money. Also when a-traktors were made 10-15 years ago the rule was to have 2 gearboxes and you had to make so that when you were in second gear your top speed is 30 but only at max rev limit, so for a volvo 740/940 at max speed (30km/h) you had to rev it to the limit, about 7500-8000 rpm.
So basically you had to destroy your motor to be able to drive at 30 km/h. Imagine banging the rev limiter ALL THE TIME to only reach 30 km/h
there's also a few like this in belgium, 4 wheeled mopeds with a speed limit of 45km/h
I thought everybody were familiar with Emperor of cheese: Westerbotten, and the fact that it is made in Burträsk, but apparently not...
We live in a world where communication is essential, even for teenagers. The A-traktor is the least bad alternativ for peeople with some financial limits: It's safer than a 2-wheeler or a "mopedbil" (a squimish aluminium or plastic chassi running 45...), it's warmer than a 2-wheeler (tenagers seem to have forgotten have to put on clothes...), they are almost (!) affordable...
The downside is lousy fuelconsumption, and the built-in capacity for enraging everybody else.
It is though very interesting to see that other countries have different solutions solving the issue of teenage transportation.
In New Jersey, USA I got a "Farmer's License" at 15. It allowed me to drive a "farm vehicle" (with farm license plates). But, only from sunup-sundown, and only for farm business. For me it was our 1962 Chevy 1-ton pickup. Other kids from large farms could be driving 5-ton trucks towing a hay wagon.
During my vacation in Stöde I've seen an a-traktor towing a camping trailer :D
In the Netherlands we have the MMBS (Motorvoertuig met Beperkte Snelheid) you can drive if you are 16 or older and have a tractor license.
You actually need a drivers license for tractor/moped to legally drive an EPA- or an A-tractor in Sweden. They are predominantly driven by teenagers who live outside of the cities, since there aren't sufficient public transport there, and they would otherwise not be able to go anywhere without the parents driving them everywhere. My son has an A-tractor Volvo 740 from 1988, which he usually uses to get to the nearest (several kilometers away) bus stop or train station, in order to get to school or see friends. Most of the time he thinks it just takes too long to drive the entire distance with the A-tractor. Great info in this video, thank you!
Sounds a bit like the French Voitures Sans Permis, that allowed younger people to drive "cars" that were power limited. The main issue there was that there was a significant aftermarket for those who had driving bans for drunk driving... They could still get VSPs and be mobile.
A graduated driver training course sounds perfect. There are classes of license requiring people to drive certain vehicles under specific license. Always felt that such training should be standardized, rather than direct training for one type of vehicle.
Both A-tractors, EPA (always driven by teenage kids) and the legacy cars are rarely found in the larger towns and only very occasionally found in the larger cities.
It's mostly a countryside or small town thing in Sweden.
Really quality reporting and editing! Definitely deserves more subs and views!
10/10
One quick note: the effect used for the old-timey footage at 3:46 created a really annoying and super bright flickering that hurt to look at. Might want to dial that effect down in future videos if ever used again.
My Dad got his driver's license in Wisconsin, USA in 1947 at age 14. The was agricultural provision in the law at that time.
We have those in Switzerland too. Usually Suzuki Jimnys
For the porsche, around where I work there is a Cayenne sitting that is an A-Tractor. And one of my old teachers got one for her son too. Then I've also seen 2015 BMWs being converted as before graduating a person under my grade had one.
I love them, never owned one. I drove a supermoto instead but seeing the Epa's on the road always brings me a smile cause i know that behind the wheel, there's a kid absolutely loving every second of driving. Yeah its annoying to get stuck behind them sometimes but its worth it. Many people want to get them off the roads but if anything i think we should keep them on the roads but allow them to go 50km/h instead like the moped cars
I wouldn't say it only started a year ago I saw these types of vehicles begin their rise in popularity about two or three years ago, one person in the same school year as me had gotten two of these one which was a pickup truck model and one which was a BMW city car model, it felt really weird which is how I've been able to keep track of roughly when it began despite my spotty memory concerning time.
Wait........ this video has only 300 views? it should be a crime to have such a low viewcount with such high production quality... You've earned a new subscriber :)
In the 90’s, in my state in the US, I was given my learners permit at 14. As long as I also took drivers education, I was able to get my license to drive a normal car at 15 with absolutely no restrictions. Now of course one has to be 16 and must drive x hours with a licensed adult. Absolutely crazy they allowed us to drive on roads and freeways so young.
EPA/A tractors also have no restrictions on how much they are allowed to pull. This means if you somehow manage to get an entire apartment complex on wheels with a trailer hinge you are legally allowed to drive it on the road at 15.
Compared to your high production quality, your subscriber count is very low. It's a shame that not more people know about this channel. Keep up the good work.
The law for converting cars to agricultural vehicles (not necessaricly tractors) was far from unique. It existed in The Netherlands as well, maybe still does. I think that category has now been mostly superseded by the 4 wheel moped category which also has existed for a few decades.
I moved from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany to Småland in Sweden about a year ago. I also thought about byuing an a-traktor but because I'm almost old enough for a driver's license for "real" cars and I'm not exactly bathing in money I didn't buy one.
In Örebro last month I saw an Audi A4 wagon, about 2015 vintage with the orange triangle. It had the loudest car stereo I've ever heard and shiny chrome wheels at a ridiculous negative camber. There's a word for people like the kid driving that, but he'll soon be deaf, so won't hear me say it anyway.
The cheese slicer, is a Swedish invention, that's probably why it's there, the person who invented it might have been from the place you passed by.
There is a cheese aging facility close by and half an hour away the factory for”västerbottens” cheese is located
There is also a thing in Germany called Ellenator Car - which can be driven with 16 years. It is modifyed to only 3 wheels. But it is allowed to drive faster.
It kinda exists in other countries of Europe with the cars for people not owning a proper driving licence. It is used by youth, people who lost their licence due to bad driving, people who could never passed it and some old people
Well it is definitely safer than driving with scooters on the roads. As well as I can imagine that driving behind those vehicles can be pretty annoying.
Safer for the driver? Probably. Safer for everyone else? Not so sure...
Very Interesting Mattias ,thanks for sharing👍👍😊😊 They're quite fascinating, I bet we would all have a 1960/50American car if we had room for one .
I love that you show a Volvo 780 when you talk about every second person drives a Volvo. You wont see many 780s though, they are very unusual :)
In the Netherlands we have microcars that fit 1 or 2 persons with a max of 30 that can be driven from 16.
Also some kids take a Traktor to school.
in Belgium all cars have become A-Tractors as in most cities and even some rural areas the maximum speed is lowered to 30 km/h, the only difference is that young people can't drive them. And when they at last obtain a license (being 18 yrs or older) often they don't know how to behave and fly off roads driving at least 130 km/h :-)
In NZ we have a similar law for farm owner's vehicles. Any type but limited to 50kph and within 30k round trip from the farm. Not many people know this but some register their vehicle to a friend's farm. No registration or inspection fees. The vehicle can be put back on ordinary rego once re=inspected. A lot of ag machinery only ever goes from one farm to the next.
Living in Canada, where a trip from one town to another is at least 60-70km, this just wouldn't work out. We travel at 10km over the posted speed limit as a norm.
In the UK there are many large towns and cities that have already introduced speed limits of 20mph which is the equivalent of 30kph
The Netherlands has also EPA tractors with the same triangle symbol only alowed on local roads with max 45km/h speed.
Depending on where the video of the red gas station EPA is taken that might just be my friends EPA, cause it looks very similar
In Australia we have the concept of making aircraft out of cheap parts from the local brand hardware store "Bunnings aircraft, inc", "Bunnings race team" and so-on
You got it good, great video 👍
I live in Sweden and have had a drivers license for 30 years. The A-tractors are annoying and create more unsafe situations than the safety those would create giving the 15 year olds practice on the roads. There are even 110 km/h roads where the A-tractots are allowed. It would be much better just to let the 15 year olds wait til 16 to get a light motorcycle licence if they want to go quicker than a moped in the 6 months of ridable roads. Or just wait until 18 years of age to get a license for cars.
Would you drive a motorcycle in the winter when there's snow and -20°C?? Guess not!! One reason why 15 year old kids behave like they do depends on how their parents have raised them.
Another important factor to consider is that Sweden can get quite cold, especially up north, so vehicles like mopeds/scooters that are popular among teenagers in many other countries aren't really appropriate for use year-round here.
Personally I think they either need to be banned near cities or the speed limit need to be raised (possibly with a stricter license requirement). Their slow speed isn't just an inconvenience for everyone in a regular car, but they also block and delay public transportation, emergency services, and so on. Speaking of public transportation, it exists for a reason and is a perfectly good way for teenagers to get around in cities, there shouldn't be a reason to drive a personal vehicle unless you don't have access to bus or train. Not to mention that A LOT of teens drive these while intoxicated...
A funny detail about Epas is that they keeplimiting them to 30kph while they are, especially the new electronically govenrd versions desinged for higher speeds and thus safer to drive. Yet having a small two seater vehicle mostly made from plastic is allowed to travel at 50kph... This still baffles my mind.
i drove one of these tractors when i was 15 untill i turned 17. i firstly had a Volvo 244 and later i had a Volvo duett. (both was an A-tractor) and i miss that part of my life very often. and i never get mad when im behind one today as i drove one myself when i was that age. i love them and i hope they stay for ever.
As a proud owner of a Saab 9-5 A-tractor i can say that its very usefull and fun of course. Although there are also things called moped bilar (moped cars) that in the same way epa tractors classify as tractors they classify as mopeds. So the moped cars can drive up to 45km/h which i think is a good speed for a-tractors too. I mean, i cant even drive in my citys speed limit whilst the moped cars overtake me. I also think that if your car had backseats before it was build it should be allowed to have and use those too. Because before right this month i think, you could sit as many as youd want in the front and without seatbelts. But if you had backseats that wouldnt necessarily be an issue. And as you said the epa tractors are a good way to learn how to drive to get a normal drivers license. I mean, i didnt know how to use the clutch or nothing but now i watch videos of people failing ther driving school tests and cringe for them.
Pretty strange but guess this class of vehicles services a purpose.
Yup, helped on the farm, pulled stuff, transported stuff
Swede here, the problem i have is the licence in the driving test to be able to drive them is done on 2 wheels and it's too easy on the theoretical side aswell, and there are no limits on size, so there are 11 tonne A-tractors (i know atleast one that got alot of publicity), converted trucks. The driving test should atleast be on 4 wheels with more theory and the maximum weight should be like 3 tonnes or something.
But then again the government have made it so easy for them so they can flip a switch to switch between EPA and regular car, so many (atleast 1/4 according to an EPA-owner) are driven like a normal car when on the countryside, and many terrible deadly accidents have followed.
In Switzerland we have something similar, but the cars are way smaller and specially built for this purpose
In France, the rule is Vehicule Sans Permis (Vehicle without permit). Driven by 14 year olds and people who have no driving licence (drink drivers in rural areas). The regulations control the weight and speed (45kmh max) of the vehicle. The Citroen Ami is built to these regulations.
In the UK, we can drive actual tractors at 16 on public roads. There were 3 farmers sons at my high school who drove tractors to school. I have no problem with this, as I would have loved to drive anything on the roads at 16. I went on my first driving lesson on my 17th birthday.
I love it. We use the exact same triangular "slow moving vehicle" sign here in the states. Except here you only ever see them on the back of farm tractors, construction equipment, and the Amish folk's horse drawn buggies!
Yes, visst är det en dilemma ibland, especially when a 24 meter trailer gets stuck behind an A traktor and the lines follow upp behind. Det kan bli lite discubabla omkörningar, otherwise most teenagers are aware of the situation and very often drive off the road for a while to let traffic pass! Also they keep as far to the right as possible.
There are similarities to farm vehicle laws in the U.S. In New York State for instance, a "farm vehicle weighing 26,000 pounds or less may be operated anywhere within New York State and in any other state as long as that state honors the Covered Farm Vehicle designation.
If the vehicle displays a “FARM” plate, it may only be operated within 25 miles of the farm." These could I suppose be cars but are usually pick-up trucks. By the way farm vehicles over 26,000 lbs may be operated up to 150 air miles from the farm. No speed restrictions on these. No commercial license required. Young drivers too.
dont we have something similar in germany. the leichtfahrzeuge? dry mass of 425kg max and 6kw. you can drive them with the Am licence you can get at 15 and drive 45km/h max
I see around 50 of this during spring Cruising 😀
Do the E-cars have to be plated and insured? Do Police check?
The other weird thing is that you take the card for a moped to be allowed to drive this, not one made specifically for cars. If you know how to drive a moped you can drive an a-tractor
So I think there is another reason for the ton of classic cars in Sweden. In the winter they are not putting tons of salt on the roads but sand which is not damaging the car regarding corrosion. Latter is not happen in Sweden.
8:38 holy crap, small world, I drive there almost every day. It looks different now though since there is construction work going on on the left side and the forest is gone.
The weirdest A-traktor I have seen was an ordinary full-grown Scania semi truck with a trailer transporting gravel. With a red triangle at its back and a small kid behind the wheel. As far as I understand, there are no real rules anymore for what kind of vehicle you want to convert to a "tractor". A battle tank, a space shuttle, a mining excavator. Take whatever you like. As long as you put a red triangle on it, you are good.
I can see these vehicles being very useful not only for rural teenagers, but for rural senior citizens who can no longer drive a normal car safely but still need some way to shop for food, go to doctor's appointments, and so forth.
In addition, the issue of these vehicles causing unsafe conditions for other drivers seems to be quite exaggerated. If the roads are properly marked to safely allow drivers to pass these vehicles, what is the big deal?
Epa Traktor kids are the best! Always fun to shoot & Film with! Brings back memories❤
BTW. Volvo is a wholly owned Chinese company. That aside as long as these vehicles do not have driving licence requirements (if they do then get rid of the rule) then a drunk driver or one who habitually speeds loses their ability to drive their big Volvo but have to drive for a year or more in a slow old tractor with a big red triangle on it. The car of shame :-).
Volvo cars was acquired by the Chinese Geely group in 2010 according to Wikipedia.
I guess we might get that trend here also, Citroën Ami & opel rocks electric. They are not driven by young ones... at least I've seen only a low percentage with that. But I see middle age and older people with them in Kassel. When I asked on at bauhaus they told me "yea, normally I drive by bike/public transport and avoid cars, but for getting goods or weather is not good/cold... its nice to have a smoll one, that can fit on a small slot. I'm sharing a parling space in the garage with my neighbour and we only need a normal power plug."
I guess there is a market for smaller, practical, electric cars with 50-120km range. At least if they cost less then 6000-8500€ - this is what people I know pay for their city/second car that they normally buy used.
An EPA tractor used in agriculture in the old days was a converted old truck not a car. These were forbidden to be driven by young people without a driving license (18 years old) sometime in the -90s due to the heavy weight of the vehicle and all the serious accidents it created. But these converted heavy trucks are still used today in agriculture for transport between fields and warehouses on the farm 👍
I moved last year to Sweden and I also found those cars interesting. Fortunately I don't find them all the time so I don't see concerns regarding constant traffic jams because of them.
Something missing in the video is that they are also used by people that for some reason lost their driver's license. This I find morally and practically wrong because if someone lose the driver's license due to reckless driving they can be again back at the road.
Yeah I live in Denmark and I can so badly see how this is problematic. I mean traffic safety is one thing but there's also many other issues to consider like drunk driving where I have to question if it really is that safe for both the driver and the other people on the road if a drunken 15 year old can be allowed to drive a tractor with how that stuff affects your senses. I think the much safer solution honestly would be expansions into bicycle infrastructure and micro mobility solutions that are more tailored to fit within those parameters, like E-bikes or if absolutely needed because of distance, maybe those little electronic microscooters usually designed for the elderly. Just my 2 cents on it as someone who is also concerned about traffic safety and car dependency.
Laws of driving under influence still applies for EPA/A-traktorer.
@@johan.ohgren The problem is, these people are likely still gonna get drunk, but they'd still be dependent on the A-tractor to get home rather than a means in which they're not a risk of safety to everyone else or themselves.
Like Do you think just because a law forbids something that it just doesn't happen? As long as there's a bigger underlying issue thats unadressed it'll keep being the case.
@@drdewott9154 no, but if they get caught driving drunk the tractor gets confiscated and the offender is barred from taking any licence.
@@johan.ohgren Again, Don you think that'll stop them? The police can't possibly be enough places for it to be a liability for many, plus you gave to realise something. Most teenagers are insanely stupid, and even more so when drunk. And this is coming from someone who was a teenager themselves just 4 years ago, I couldn't stand my peers!
Even if there's a high risk of heir tractor getting confiscated they won't care until they're in an accident so big it affects them negatively for the rest of their life like putting them in a wheelchair or requiring a limb to be amputated. They have little to none risk assessment and it's even worse when they're drunk. This is why it's so important to make any way they get around in a safe and practical one where like I said, it's not of serious harm to themselves or anyone else like E-bikes.
@@drdewott9154 how is this different than drunk driving as an adult though? If they have this complete lack of risk assessment, wouldn't they just drive a regular car instead of they didn't have an epa.
I built an A-traktor with my father and I love to drive it even if I can only go 30km/h. Not every A-traktor's top speed is 30km/h because people manipulate them to go faster. I know a guy who manipulated his by using 1 single 50cm long cable. It took him less than 5 minutes to do and when he was done he took it out for a test drive and topped at 180km/h. This is very illegal ofcourse. The culture around it is very fun to be a part of and I love it. We party, we drift and we do all kinds of fun stupid shit. My friend drives a white van A-traktor with a huge sticker on the side of it saying "Free candy". He actually does give people free candy if they come forward and ask for it.
Last winter me and 6 other people sat at the back of the van and 3 at the front (the driver and 2 passengers) and we started drifting. We flew around like hell at the back of the van because there weren't any seats and I will never forget how fun it was.
Very good summary! This here explains the whole thing!
I wish I lived in Sweden I could do that 👆
As far as I know, there is something simmilar in the USA and Canada, where you don't need a full license to drive vehicles that are 50CC or lower.
the triangle thing, you call a warning sign, means they're not allowed over the speed of 30hm/h, it's not that the car needs to be downpaced to only drive 30km/h, it's just not allowed to drive faster.
Which lappland? the one here in sweden or the one in finland?
Good, accessible and wanted public transit comes first but this could fill mobility gaps in too rural areas.
Finally someone talks about that! My swedish cousin couldn't explain to me what those cars actually are supposed to be
I thinks its good with A-Traktors, cuz it gives them experience. The could bump up the speed from 30 to 50kmh imo
0:45 -
"Between the cities of Umeå and Skellefteå in Northern Sweden, right outside the tiny town of Ånäset, is where you’ll find them: two giant cheese slicers. Leaning on each other, they welcome visitors to an area known as the Kingdom of Cheese. This dairy-wonderland of a name has a lot to do with the locally famous Västerbotten Cheese, which is made only in the nearby village of Burträsk.
The cheese slicer, or cheese plane, was invented in 1925 by the Norwegian carpenter Thor Bjørklund. From there, the design, which has barely changed in a century, become widespread across Nordic countries, including Sweden.
Compared to an ordinary cheese slicer measuring about 20 cm (8 inches), these two are enormous. Rising 7 meters (23 feet) above the ground and weighing 820 kg (more than 1,800 pounds), these are by far the biggest ones in the world. Whether they have ever been used to slice any cheese is, however, unclear."
- source: Atlas Obscura
@@FlambartPhotography Burträsk I think would be classified as a town in english. Sweden don't really have any real name between city = stad and village = by. But some places are way to big to be called village such as Gällivare, Arvidsjaur and Jokkmokk for example but they do fit the criteria for a town
I would like to buy one and transport it to Slovakia (1700km) but i am not sure how it is with the maximum speed. If I can unlock it and drive normally through sweden, dennmark, germany, czechs and here to slovakia. Anyone help? I really like those cars but I have no idea if I can unlock the speed and if I can drive at those plates more than 30kmh
normally slow moving signs are used for farming and constructions vehicles