Is electric the way to go now?

[bertsmobile1]

Interesting conversation. I think people are confusing the quality of certain products with the capability of the technology.

A properly built electric mower would be perfect for most home users. Walk-behind or riders, it's 40 minutes of use followed by a week of charge time.

Look at golf carts, they do their job and very few owners would opt for gas power.

Every spring millions of home owners can't get their mower started because they don't know about ethanol, and spark plugs and carbs.

THe industry is expecting electric mowers to be 65% of the market in 10 years.

It is the same story
TICKET PRICE
Down here golf courses lease carts on a 4 year term
Why ?
because that is the average life of the batteries and a new battery pack is about 2/3 of the the replacement price of the entire cart
So the golf courses then sell the old carts with the knowledge that if only used one day a week as opposed to 6 times a day they will last the owners another 3 to 6 years , a bit longer if they swap the batteries around and replace the end two .

As for market expectations, Cal is apparently 20% of the entire US market for just about everything ( if not higher ) and ICE will be illegal in mowers from Jan 1 2025.
Once that happens the very passionate and equally emotional as they are ignorant "greens" will force the same in all of the costal mostly metropolitan states.
Farmers tend to be a lot better informed & far more pragmatic so a lot less emotional .

And if E-mowers had a mandated life of 10+ years and the retailers / makers were liable for the collection & disposal of the spent batteries and if not supplying the batteries for 10 year minimum then they would be made properly.
But we all know that will not happen
The motors will be snap together so they can not be repaired without breaking them.
The controllers will all have custom chips only available from the factory and will become unavilable in a couple of years
And most will be sourced from China / India or any other third world country with a sufficient over supply to cover warranty repairs after which it will be tough luck for the owner

 

[smhardesty]

Heavy grass takes two passes one high the over low in opposite direction.

I think that would be my own, personal objection to having a battery powered lawn tractor. I never have to make two passes to mow my lawn, even if it has been rainy and the grass has reached heights of 5" or more. My Craftsman lanw tractor will handle it, even if I hacve to slow down just a tad. I know that would be a hindrance to a whole lot of my customers and future customers. Most of these people aren't exactly excited about mowing their lawns. In fact, my next door neighbor only mows his lawn whenI call the ordinance control officer to report the lawn has reached 15" in height. Yes, 15". I've been arguing with a few members of the city council about this ridiculous ordinance. I finally found out that they intended this one ordinance to apply to residential lawns as well as commercial properties on the outskirts of town. I've been begging them to separate the two and write a new ordinance for residential lawns with a more appropriate height restriction.

But that's a different story. It is not at all uncommon to see lawns in this town that are in the 5" to 8" range before mowing. Those are the people I have coming in. There is no way any of them would be satisfied with having to mow twice at different height settings. Then, I have a few farmers that mow acres as well as old barn lots. They also are not good prospects for a battery powered mower, at least the ones on the market currently. I'm sure a lot of people with really small lawns that mow them so often you can't tell whether they have just mowed or are getting ready to mow are completely satisfied with a battery powered mower. There just aren't as lot of those people in this town.

Maybe the next generation of battery powered mowers will be different and the short battery life, reduced power, and long charging times will be a thing of the past. I just don't see that as existing in the current crop of candidates, with a very few exceptions.

 

[smhardesty]

Nothing is getting shoved down our throats. EVERYONE has the option to choose.

Have you missed the mandated end of gas powered OPE and automobiles that multiple governments have imposed? That is the very definition of having something rammed down our throats. In just a few short years you will have NO option to choose. I think that's what a big part of the resistance is about. California already has bans on gas powered OPE. Where are their options to choose?

 

[smhardesty]

OK, guys. I have had my questions more than answered. It was a good discussion. There are definite pros and cons to either type of OPE. The bottom line for me, and the answer to my question, is that I will not be attempting to learn to repair any battery powered equipment. I'll just continue to service and repair good old, gas powered OPE.

I thank one and all for your responses.

 

[sgkent]

Agreed. Not a popular stance but politics has nothing to do with this subject. Nothing is getting shoved down our throats. EVERYONE has the option to choose. At home, I mow with gas and I prefer electric (Ego) for trimming and for leaf blowing (Stihl). However, on my farm property, totally ICE. Electric *might* do the job but it would take much more time which, as a grandfather, can be occupied by more important things. Both worlds can (and DO) coexist. Businesses also can make the choice. There are plenty of markets to serve, we just have to be willing to pivot if it’s necessary. Blaming politicians is fruitless … none of them take care of their own property anyway. It’s just capitalism, that’s all.

" EVERYONE has the option to choose." The legislators in this state said otherwise, it is mandatory next year. And now in 10 bay area counties (1.8 million homes) you will have to rip out your natural gas heating and go to electric house heating by 2027 too. That was just greenlighted by the BAAQMD this week. Ironically the state imports 30% - 40% of its electric power already. In 2019 - 2020 it was the largest importer of electric power of any state.

 

[smhardesty]

" EVERYONE has the option to choose." The legislators in this state said otherwise, it is mandatory next year. And now in 10 bay area counties (1.8 million homes) you will have to rip out your natural gas heating and go to electric house heating by 2027 too. That was just greenlighted by the BAAQMD this week. Ironically the state imports 30% - 40% of its electric power already. In 2019 - 2020 it was the largest importer of electric power of any state.

OK. I have to respond to that. BINGO, BINGO, BINGO. That's exactly what I said a few posts back. This idea that we have options to choose isn't entirely true. Yes, I suppose we do have options. We can buy the EVs and battery powered OPE that the government is going to force on us, or we can elect to no longer drive a car/truck and no longer mow our own lawns. Those technically ARE options, just not very damned good ones in my opinion.

 

[sgkent]

regardless, we know some political donors are getting rich from these changes being forced on everyone. Sometimes I think the mafia runs the western world.

Anyone try the new TORO EV's?

 

[Texas1step]

Just moving our destruction of the Earth to other places. Looks great on the surface until you dig in and see all the extra pollution created in the mining and disposal after the batteries fail. Currently recycling the batteries costs more than the new batteries so everybody just piling them up.

If anybody even remembers the Space 1999 series. It supposedly happen that the discard waste exploded and sent out Moon out its orbit. But of right now the Russians are destroying a beautiful county called Ukraine just to make more room in their country. It now looks several nuclear bombs have gone off. Even they succeed what is left is waste dump.

And yes these battery powered equipment will hold us up on new parts or we have to just dump the machines and buy new. Sorta like our ink printers where the replacement ink cartridges cost as much as a new printer.

Yes, probably too political for a lawn mower forum.

You make a good point.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Agreed. Not a popular stance but politics has nothing to do with this subject. Nothing is getting shoved down our throats. EVERYONE has the option to choose. At home, I mow with gas and I prefer electric (Ego) for trimming and for leaf blowing (Stihl). However, on my farm property, totally ICE. Electric *might* do the job but it would take much more time which, as a grandfather, can be occupied by more important things. Both worlds can (and DO) coexist. Businesses also can make the choice. There are plenty of markets to serve, we just have to be willing to pivot if it’s necessary. Blaming politicians is fruitless … none of them take care of their own property anyway. It’s just capitalism, that’s all.

Actually politics has everything to do with it
We have a government enforced 12 month warranty period on everything that is sold retail.
Walmart has been lobbying hard to have that overturned so they can open up down here as has Harbour Freight
Up until the US - Aust free trade deal of 2005 cars sold in Australia had to have a guaranteed parts back up for 10 years which is again why a lot of Japanese & EU vehicles were sold here but very few US made ones .This was dropped to 5 years and then 3 years so we are now flooded with junk US SUV's of which quite a few spend more time in the repair shops than they do on the roads but idiots Aussies want to drive what they see on US TV & movies .
So a government can mandate minimum quality & durability levels if they wanted to.
Most EU governments do this
THE USA & UK do not because their political parties ( and thus the governments ) are beholden to large companies for donations to fund election campaigns and the charatible off shoots of big companies to provide the social services that the governments don't do when they become a hot media topic .
It is not capitalism but rather the failure to properly regulate capitalism that is the problem which has become more & more of a problem since the Nixon administration in the USA .
The idea that any market can self regulate is a myth because they will always regulate to favour the most wealthy.
The very basis of a capatlist market economy is also a myth as the foundation principle is "the market is fully informed" and that only happens on the stock market and only because failure to disclose brings down heavy penalties .
As for all other markets it is lies & secrets base upon the economic consequences of being found out verses the profits made today from say selling a car that would split the fuel tank & dump the fuel all over the exhaust if it was hit even lightly from the rear .
Or to keep it in EV context the chances of the battery pack self igniting and your chances of getting out of the vehicle should this happen .

 

[Texas1step]

So electric lawn mowers are bad