I suspect that’s true as a matter of product liability. If it fails it can burn a house down. I’d still consider an extended warranty given the high cost of replacement.
Thanks for the link. If I’m reading the table correctly, the tests are 15 yrs old. I wonder what - if anything - has changed since. I don’t know about loudest electric and quietest gas, and I know personal impressions can be faulty, but I have never heard a gas mower that was anywhere near as quiet as any electric.
I had problems w/ a Ryobi electric 20 some years ago. Know several folk with the EGO - none have had any problems w/ the mower or batteries over probably 15 cumulative years of use. Sorry your experience was so different.
Now gas blowers - THOSE things should be outlawed!
Actually that is beginning to happen. First in California but I think NJ is also talking about it.
Yes. 2 strokes came into fashion with chain saws because of their weight to HP ratio. The sad thing is they COULD be quieter. The same goes for the blower mechanism. I’ve got vacuum cleaners that are stupid loud and some that aren’t. Sound is something that can be dealt with on an engineering level.
But somehow the gas blower has been a perpetuated nightmare. My neighbor on one side has one and was using it while I was working from home. It has 2 distinctly annoying frequencies from both the motor and the blower. And of course the person was constantly revving it so I heard both. The blower should have been sold under the brand name “Satan”. My job takes a lot of concentration and focus throughout the day. I wanted to smash that blower and set what’s left of it on fire. But they’re good neighbors so I tolerate it.
This compared to my other neighbor who often mows part of my lawn right under my window (we take turns doing that). His lawnmower is a Gregorian chant in comparison.
That includes lawn mowers so if you live in California you have 5 years to make the switch to battery or corded mower.
Currently finishing up the third season with my Toro Flex Force 60V mower. Previous mower was a gas model, about 18 years old. It still ran fine, but I was tired of the noise, vibration, and exhaust fumes. I checked with a decibel meter: the gas mower was 87 dB, the Toro Flex Force is 79 dB. Also a much less obnoxious sound, more of a steady growl than the POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP of the gas engine. Part of the sound reduction is from lower blade RPM, which I think may compromise cut quality in some cases, but I can live with that. Happy to have a quieter, smoother, stink-free mowing experience.
It’s self-propelled. maybe you don’t exactly need a self-propelled mower, but it sure is nice when you’re trying to mow along the edge of your yard underneath overhanging branches that prevent you from walking directly behind the mower.
I bought a big battery for it, 324 watt-hours (6 Ah). No problem cutting my lawn on a single charge, with enough left over so that I’m not storing it nearly empty (you’re supposed to store it at something close to 50% charge).
At the same time I also bought their string trimmer and blower, and got a smaller/lighter battery to serve those. Same charger works with both batteries. Later also bought a hedge trimmer that uses the same battery. All in all very happy with the whole thing.
As noted upthread, I’m putting maybe a dozen charge cycles on these batteries every year, so I expect them to last for a very long time.
As for the economics (relative to a gas mower), well, consider what you get:
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Small engines are filthy. their exhaust emissions are many times what comes out of your car’s tailpipe. Going with a battery mower eliminates these emissions and goes a long way toward improving air quality in your city. Ozone action day? No worries - if you can stand the heat, go ahead and mow.
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It also goes a long way toward improving air quality in your lungs. I used to regularly catch a snootful of exhaust when I was using my gas mower, which can’t have been good for my health. Never again.
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It’s quieter. A lot quieter. Your mowing experience will be more pleasant, and your neighbors will thank you.
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No more gas or oil to buy or run out of or spill. No more oil changes.
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No more fussy engine starts, and no more pull cord. A battery mower is push-button start, and it really does start on the first try, every single time.
The one down side of battery mowers that I’ve found so far is the need to plan ahead a bit. It’s bad to store lithium ion batteries fully charged for long periods of time, so when you think you’re going to want to mow, you need to take the mower battery off the shelf a couple of hours ahead of time to get it from half charged to “charged enough for the whole lawn” (this may or may not be 100% full, depending on the size of your yard). I suspect it’s not a big deal if you store it fully charged for a day or two because your mowing plans changed at the last minute, but these are indeed expensive batteries, so you’ll want to maximize their service life by not storing it for weeks or months in a mostly charged (or mostly discharged) state.
Battery power is certainly more expensive than cord power or engine power, but I’m happy with my choices. Toro provides “tool only” options: you can buy any of these items without a battery, and then buy the desired capacity/quantity of batteries separately. That let me get a big battery for the mower, and a single 2.5 Ah battery to be shared between the string trimmer, leaf blower, and hedge trimmer. Other manufacturers may likewise provide “tool only” purchase options so you can optimize your battery choices.
You’re not making much of a case for a battery powered mower. The op is well aware of the exhaust emissions of gas mowers and how loud they are. Your characterization of them sounds like a steam engine in a tunnel.
As for no more gas to buy you’ve cancelled that out with the inconvenience of timing a charge of the battery to when the lawn will be mowed. A 1 gallon can of gas lasts a long time and is quite evident when it gets low. Basically it’s always there ready to go at any time. It also represents mowing without worry over a dead battery.
As for pollution, a new mower represents a lot of energy that goes into raw material and manufacturing. Also, Lithium is more expensive to recycle than it is to mine from scratch. That makes recycling an issue. We recycle about 5% of it in the United States.
So from a purely environmental aspect a new Lithium Ion powered mower is not the greenest thing It’s portrayed to be. It means there’s an environmental timeline when it breaks even with the repair of an existing ice engine. If the op is truly interested in a green purchase then these are the things that should be taken into consideration.
I know it sounds like I’m against battery power but I’ve been pretty adamant on how much I like my smaller cordless tools. Those purchases are based on the initial purchase price and price of replacement batteries.
What kind of grass are you all mowing? St. Augustine grass if watered adequately becomes VERY thick and can easily bog down a 6 hp gas mower if you’re not careful or diligent about mowing just on time.
I wonder if an electric mower can cope with thick grass like that.
I have an 80v Kobalt (Green Machine OEM IIRC) that has 2 removable batteries. They charge at about the same rate they drain so I can cut normal-height grass basically forever. They charge from empty in 30-40 minutes so they would not need that much planning – although I keep mine fully charged.
For people like @Magiver that are worried about over-heating – the charger does have over-heat detection. But if you are worried it might still fail, they charge fast enough you can just do it while you are outside working.
I didn’t weigh in earlier because I thought my model might be overkill for the OP, but I really like this mower – it is quiet, light, wide, and trivial to get started the first time in the Spring. I don’t need gas, oil, or gas stabilizer. I really like the instant start/stop. While I am mowing I can stop, pull out a weed, pick up sticks, then press a button and keep mowing.
I bought it 4 or 5 seasons ago and only had a problem with the charging unit. They replaced it no questions asked even though it was out-of-warranty. I assume there was some known failure with the charger. I haven’t had any issues with the batteries failing or degrading, although they get more use from the leaf blower, especially in the fall.
I can’t see many advantages to a gas mower unless you want self-propelled or a double-blade model
I’ll concede overheating issues for recent purchases because the chargers are going to be integral with the battery. What size battery are you using and how long does it last mowing? I think that’s integral with purchase decision
Another example of failure issues that enforces my thoughts on extended warranties.
They make self propelled models which at my age I would be leaning toward. How light is your model and how would you feel if you had hills and/or did a lot of back-and-forth mowing to get into tight areas.
I’ve been looking at them over the years out of curiosity and lean toward something like the Toro self propelled.
I don’t know about St. Augustine: but my EGO handles overgrown tall grass mixed with considerable assorted weed growth (and I do mean overgrown, up to my knees or higher) better than any gas mower I’ve ever used. (It doesn’t handle that mess well in the sense of leaving neat pretty lawn or field aisles behind, but it does cut it, stalls out much less than the gas mowers did, and is far easier to restart if/when it does stall.)
I don’t worry about pre-charging the batteries unless the mower hasn’t been used in quite a while; I do run them to full charge after use, and then just let them sit till next use. In the winter I’ll charge them back up every two or three months. By the time I’ve run both batteries out when I use them without precharging, I need a break myself anyway; and whichever one I emptied first is well on its way to being charged again.
I don’t see an advantage even if you want self-propelled – mine is. And I’m pretty sure you can now get double-bladed electric versions.
I was looking at this model from Ryobi earlier this summer but I didn’t take the plunge because it was $500 and my current gas push mower still functions well enough that I can’t really justify spending that much on a new mower – waste not, want not and all that. It’s not only self propelled but also has two blades, stacked on top of each other.
I really don’t know what advantage having two blades is.
And I see now that this model has gone up in price – to $800!
Probably mulches better with 2 blades stirring the grass.
A corded electric is $200 so the batteries represent roughly 75% of the cost. And you may not have been looking at the same amp-hour version so that might explain the cost difference.
I have this model, and it does not cope well. If you don’t stay on top of it (e.g. mow twice a week if it’s the summer and it’s been raining) , it will bog down and cut the grass unevenly.
Other than St. Augustine or really tall bermuda bogging it down, it’s an OK mower. Really, if it dies, I’ll consider getting a corded electric.
Mine use this 80v battery:
It takes 30-40 minutes to charge and the battery lasts that long in the mower. With two batteries I can ping pong and finish my whole yard.
The battery is 1.8kg which is fine for the mower and leaf blower, but a little heavy for the hedge trimmer.
I think the mower is pretty light, but I haven’t spec’ed it. My previous mower was a lead-acid Black & Decker that weighed just short of 10 tons so any other mower feels light to me. It was only 17" wide too so you made a lot more trips with it.
The website says the current model is 66 pounds. That’s probably heavy enough to favor a self-propelled model if you have hills.
Interstingly about 40% of all lawnmowers sold are now electric, while only about 5% of vehicles sold are electric.
There’s a couple of other threads currently discussing electric cars and one of common concerns is speed and ability to recharge your car: how long it will take on, say, a multi-state road trip with numerous half-hour stops required and how frequent charging stations are available on said road trip. Neither of these issues are really present with battery-powered lawn tools, especially for your average homeowner. After all:
Plus you can charge your lawn mower with standard 120v household plug. No special wiring or adapters or similar specialty infrastructure needed.
Plus can’t you just leave the lawnmower plugged all the time?
BTW, one minor advantage of electric lawnmowers; many can be stored standing on end against the wall, so they might take up less space in the garage or shed.
Actually that’s one of the biggest advantages for me. An electric mower can do pretty much everything that my gas mower can do and vice versa, but my storage space is limited so being able to hang the mower on the wall and free up significant floor space in my potting shed is a huge plus for me. When I do upgrade to battery electric I suspect it will be at the point that I absolutely need that few extra feet of floor space that’s currently being utilized by the mower.