[paintdrying]

I remember when people started showing up with laptop computers. At first it was a rare site to see someone with a laptop, then almost overnight everyone had one.
On a residential level gas yard tools are on their way out. Your average person is going to buy a $500 mower that gives a good cut and lasts a few years maintenance free.


This could be just crazy talk because I do not actually own one. I have read the reviews which seem pretty positive so far. If my mower does not start this year it is going to the curb and I will be buying one of those battery ones. Be nice to not have gas cans and these mowers fold up so I can easily store it away. I am hoping to get three years out of a battery and am hoping a replacement battery is not $500 .

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... Good luck with that,....

A friend has a rechargeable lawn mower, it takes 3 days to mow her lawns,....
Mow til the battery is dead, go plug it in,.....
Next day, mow til it's dead, 'n plug it in,...
Day 3, finish mowin' the lawn,.....

I'll take gas powered power tools, Every day of the week over battery powered,......

If my gas powered tool dies, I gas it up, 'n go again, insteada waitin' til 'ell freezes over, when the battery is recharged,.....

 

[rjniles]

I mow almost 2 acres. Like to see a battery mower handle that.

 

[ZZZZZ]

Give it a few more years, they'll have fuel cell mowers.:thumbup1::biggrin2:

 

[Oso954]

Fuel cells have been 10 years away for the last 30 years or so.
I don't see them in the near future.

They will need to downsize the units while still producing an adequate level of power for the task, and bring the cost down, a lot.

One of the biggest problems with mobile fuel cells is that the common fuels for them are low energy density. You either need a large fuel tank, or a gaseous fuel that can be stored at extreme pressures.

 

[ZZZZZ]

Hydrogen fuel cell cars are here now.

https://ssl.toyota.com/mirai/fcv.html

Sure, they're expensive, impractical and unproven. But they're here.

 

[Oso954]

Fuel cell vehicles are on the road, but they really are not widely available. Right now most of them are here in California. Access to high pressure hydrogen is just one of the items limiting their use.

Last I knew, there are only 21 publicly accessible fueling stations in Calif, most clustered in the LA and SF Bay Area. There are a number of private fueling stations run by business or government fleet operations, but they don't sell to the public.

The fleet operators are actually the predominate users are fuel cell vehicles.

But cars and mowers are two different things. Between an electric motor, the fuel cell, and the fuel, a fuel cell mower would weigh more than a gas one.

The consumer grade fuel cells that I am aware of run on hi grade alcohol, not hydrogen. The fuel is almost 7 bucks a gallon. A small suitcase sized fuel cell produces 105watts at 12V.
The fuel cell retails for just under $7,000.

Long way to go before you will see a fuel cell mower for the masses.

 

[ChuckF.]

They'll do very well if the government decides to subsidize them too.

 

[joecaption]

I own two riding mowers, three weed wackers, two self propelled mowers, one gas powered roto tiller, three chain saws.
All start within a few pulls every year.
Use nonethanol fuel, never try to use old fuel, at the end of the year let all the old fuel run out before storing.

 

[ddawg16]

Don't confuse Hydrogen fuel cells with batteries.

First, lets talk about he fuel cell....that pipe dream the greenies are trying to push down our throats.

The Hydrogen fuel cell needs....Hydrogen. Where do we get it? Usually from natural gas. Natural gas is made up of what? Hydrogen and Carbon. It's a simple task to us a catalytic process to extract the Hydrogen. But, guess what is left? CARBON. The greenies tell you the Hydrogen fuel cell only spews out water vapor....funny how the forget the carbon left behind to get that Hydrogen.

In addition, you loose about 40% of the potential energy in Natural gas when you extract the Hydrogen.

Now...lets talk about batteries.
Battery powered lawn mower's are not intended to mow the 'south 40'. My neighbor has one....typical 6000 sq ft lot with a 1100 sq ft house on it. He gets about 2-3 mows before he needs to recharge.

Technology will catch up.

In the mean time, when is the last time any of you took film to the store to get it developed? My old Pentax ME super 35mm is now an antique.

I'll be selling my gas mower in the next few weeks.

 

[Doomsday]

I remember when people started showing up with laptop computers. At first it was a rare site to see someone with a laptop, then almost overnight everyone had one.
On a residential level gas yard tools are on their way out. Your average person is going to buy a $500 mower that gives a good cut and lasts a few years maintenance free.


This could be just crazy talk because I do not actually own one. I have read the reviews which seem pretty positive so far. If my mower does not start this year it is going to the curb and I will be buying one of those battery ones. Be nice to not have gas cans and these mowers fold up so I can easily store it away. I am hoping to get three years out of a battery and am hoping a replacement battery is not $500 .

My Biggest issues is they are still far from long lasting in terms of mowing. I have a half acre yard and every cordless mower out there is rated for a 1/8th acre lot. There is the new EGO that has peaked my interest saying it has a 60 minute run time and only a couple hours to recharge it. Its also almost $700 for a self propelled push mower. They have got to get that price down a lot. $1500 for a nice lawn tractor that on a single fill up, can mow my yard 5 times or a battery operated lawn tractor that costs upwards of $4k that MIGHT be able to do my half acre lawn on a single charge if every condition is right and the wind is at my back and I lose 150 lbs lol.

I love battery powered stuff. I would convert my entire yard equipment if they just lasted long enough. The only gas lawn equipment I have left is my brand new cub cadet xt1 lawn tractor and my 5 or 6 year old push mower. Hedge, weed eating, blower (for hard surfaces) are all battery operated now. Are they as good as gas powered? Not yet. They do well enough for me though. Im not running a lawn business so I dont mind it taking a little longer to do the same job when I dont have to worry about gas and oil and such. Sadly though, I think battery operated mowers are going to be like the cars, Luxury and expensive. Look at the new chevy Bolt, with incentives its still going to be $30k for what really is a smallish car. Its going to be a long time before battery operated cars and lawn mowers will start to become the norm. The industry is just moving to slowly.

 

[bondra76]

I'm on the other end of the spectrum - I'm guessing people will move to battery and then realize how good they had it with fuel. If you want a job done right, you'll want the power of gas vs. battery.

 

[paintdrying]

Well my gas mower had died, about the same time everyone else was putting their old mowers out front. I grabbed a real nice crafstmen self propelled. Replace a fuel line and it is still going strong.

 

[shan1289]

Gas definitely does give more power– I'm wishing now that my battery powered-blower was gas powered instead. The battery just can't scatter leaves like a gas-powered one can

 

[SPS-1]

Arrrh --- My gas mower just died.

After the last time I changed the oil, noticed a little leakage on the garage floor. OK, snugged up the drain plug. Still leaking. It looks like its coming from around the drain plug. Drain the oil, put the plug back in with some pipe dope around it ( its a tapered plug - no face seal). Refill the oil. Still leaking. Drain oil again, wrap plug with plenty of Teflon tape, put it back in. Take real good look ---- block casting is cracked around the drain plug !! I must have put too much torque on the pipe plug.

Got 13 years out of that thing, but it wasn't cheap. Lets see if the Home Hardware has anything on sale.

 

[Canarywood1]

And wait until you have to replace one of those 40/ 56/ or 80 volt batteries.

 

[ddawg16]

And wait until you have to replace one of those 40/ 56/ or 80 volt batteries.

So far that doom and gloom prediction has not really happened.

Even if you do....the money saved will pay for it.

http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/the-true-cost-of-powering-an-electric-car.html

And lets not forget....no oil changes....less maint all around.

 

[paintdrying]

I make sure my drill batteries do not freeze in the winter and they last a long time

 

[Habeed]

If batteries can do it, it's a good idea.

The reason is that an electric mower would really only have 4 main components. Battery bank, which could be made of individually swappable cells. Charger and motor inverter control boards, which could also be made swappable and inexpensive if the manufacturer choose to. The motor for the blade, which could be direct drive and would outlast the mower. The motor for the self drive, which could be made the same way.

It would be really easy to fix one - just swap a battery or the control board, which could be made modular so it's as easy to swap as a video card.

How much power does a lawn mower actually need to turn the blade and cut the grass?

Mowers I've used say 6 horsepower - let's say it's only actually needs 3 horsepower on average. So 2483 watts power consumption. Say it takes 45 minutes to mow a large yard. 1.86 kilowatt-hours consumed.

So an electric mower that doesn't suck probably needs a 2 kilowatt hour lithium battery pack. It would weigh about 11.7 kilograms, or 25 pounds. That doesn't sound unreasonable.

The problem right now, those packs cost $145-$190 per kilowatt hour for a large automaker. A smaller mower manufacturer is going to pay more. And you'll also need the balance of system parts, which is going to be probably another $300. So the minimum cost is $600, probably more like $1000.

My conclusion is that practical battery mowers could work, but the current models probably have far too small a set of batteries in order to get the cost down.

 

[subbuilder]

I'll take a 20 year old reel mower to a battery one...it doesn't run out of gas or electric before I do. And it'll last almost forever
Sub