Is electric the way to go now?

[elmrfudd]

I'm betting you are 100% correct. I'll not start any political debate here, but I will simply say that our current leadership in the White House doesn't seem to have a grasp on reality. The only thing I'll use as evidence of that is the fact that they have stopped oil and natural gas exploration and new drilling in the US of A to "save the environment", but then turned right around and increased our import of crude from other countries. So, I'm guessing they think that the environment can only be destroyed by citizens of the US of A, or they think that the environment can be destroyed on one half of the planet while not affecting the other half. Brilliant thinking. LOL!

The current administration has a goal of the total destruction of the USA from within. They will push what is bad, and extinguish what is good. And that includes replacing whatever is gas powered with electric. If it was my shop, concerning electric equipment, I would tell the customer to take it back to where you bought it, or try fixing it yourself. There’s a limit to the nonsense. It is an accurate description of the evil that exists in high places. Agree or not, it’s the truth. There is only one electric vehicle I would EVER consider buying, and that vehicle has a place on the back for two sets of golf clubs! And that’s it!

 

[patme]

Two things, I have gotten rid of all my small gas engine equipment because so many of them get so aggravating to try and start them. You talk about throw away, I have never been able to repair a string trimmer. And at 80 yrs old I just don't want to deal with gas operated trimmer, drills, leaf blowers and such. So I have gone all battery. I still use a gas lawn mower. Second, crude oil. It would seem that the US crude would help lower our gas prices but no matter where the crude oil comes from, the price seems to be controlled by opec. So, if we,
the US citizens have to pay for gas controlled by opec then why not use foreign oil instead of ours? I thought that we were self sufficient at one time but it didn't help with the prices at the pumps. Just my thinking.

 

[biffula]

What you want to bet one regimen change in the White House and much of this electric stupidity will also go away. r

No, because the brainwashing of the consumer is pushing for more electric. And the side that wants electric stupidity to go away has to win over and over. The electric side basically only has to win once. Which is pretty much why you see what you see today. The true key is to keep ridiculous and onerous climate legislation from happening for about 20 years. And this is a monumental battle. But if we can keep it from happening, the world will see that all their chicken little climate change fears were nonsense foisted on them to enact redistribution of wealth.

 

[biffula]

Stuff being outsourced to china started to happen decades ago. The seed was planted when Nixon visited them in the 70's. All that cheap labor.

There are battery factories and wind turbine factories in the USA.

And finished off by Clinton when he normalized trade with them in the 90s

 

[Freddie21]

You guys did a fantastic job of side stepping his questions and airing your thoughts on politics. I will answer as best I can from a consumer's side as I do repairs, but not as a repair facility. The electrics offer a lot to the consumer. No gas, no oil, very quiet and light weight and virtually no maintenance other than keeping it charged and clean. I have repaired a couple and it's normal things like tires, safety switches, blades, etc. The down side is the batteries will wear out, or you'll desire a second one to allow more cutting time. As said, they are costly to purchase afterwards, but I would imagine most will purchase off line unless it's needed quickly.
One other thought, for users that are used to washing the deck underside, you can't do that with the wlk behinds, it burns out the motors. If I were a shop, I would stock everyday things like blades and a few batteries. You would have to research which machines are the most common.

 

[mmoffitt]

Electric everything is the NEXT consumer scam coming down the pike...

 

[Beesnweeds]

The latest environmental buzzword is "microplastics" thats now in are bloodstreams and all these electric power tools will only make it worse. You can be happy with electric tools but we all know the reality of where they're going to end up with their batteries in a couple years. Landfills of course, along with the billions and billions of tons of plastics from the pandemic. Most of which sadly wasn't necessary. As long as politicians keep funding universities to produce faux research papers we will be stuck with stupid environmental laws that make them rich. What ever happened to the fire retardants that are in all of us? Oh yeah, politicians cant get rich from that little problem. I have noticed that my local ford dealers are starting to get in lightnings with about 4,000 to 5,000 miles on them. Hmm.., Maybe its time for more made up stories about how the local hero saved elderly couples by plugging in his truck to their house during an outage for days.

 

[mmoffitt]

You guys did a fantastic job of side stepping his questions and airing your thoughts on politics. I will answer as best I can from a consumer's side as I do repairs, but not as a repair facility. The electrics offer a lot to the consumer. No gas, no oil, very quiet and light weight and virtually no maintenance other than keeping it charged and clean. I have repaired a couple and it's normal things like tires, safety switches, blades, etc. The down side is the batteries will wear out, or you'll desire a second one to allow more cutting time. As said, they are costly to purchase afterwards, but I would imagine most will purchase off line unless it's needed quickly.
One other thought, for users that are used to washing the deck underside, you can't do that with the wlk behinds, it burns out the motors. If I were a shop, I would stock everyday things like blades and a few batteries. You would have to research which machines are the most common.

disagree sir...All things have a place and a time, plusses and minuses but to outright want to "ban" internal combustion engines in certain areas/ jurisdictions is ridiculous...How about a hydrogen powered mower... that would be pretty cool at about who knows how much per unit nothing political here from me ..fact and reality Fossil fuel has a lot of life in her still and Yes electric does have it's place too..Be well!

 

[CLStout]

I've been seeing more and more battery powered mowers and trimmers in my neck of the woods. I just got a a Stihl chainsaw in to prep for sale by the owner. He told me he has switched his mower, trimmer, blower, and hedge trimmers to battery powered devices already and plans to buy a small, battery powered chainsaw as soon as he sells this Stihl.

So, is that something we should all be looking to add to our regular repairs? Should we be stocking a couple of battery powered mowers? And my big question is, should we be learning to repair these things? I'm just getting my little repair business going and I'm wondering what the near future holds. Then, if we should be considering learning how to repair this type of equipment, where do we find courses?

Actually, I have been referring to "we" and the truth us I really mean me. LOL! Are there any repair courses available now? I'd be interested in an online course or a good, old fashioned, book type course. If anybody knows of one, or more, I'd be grateful for the info.

From what I've seen, I wouldn't park one of those in my garage, let alone in a repair shop. If it catches fire, the intensity of the burn creates such a problem to extinguish. It would more than likely burn everything inside before it could be put out. I've seen both the mowers and the vehicles go up, and they are very difficult to extinguish. And as stated earlier, don't forget about the large scale damage from the mining.

 

[g-man57]

Just more green agenda being shoved down our throat in my opinion ,
Doubtful any battery powered mower or other lawn equipment will hold up for very long , then they've got you over a barrel for parts etc.

My neighbor had a DeWalt battery mower - for about a month. We had to do some 'creative' engineering to the handle - to keep from pinching fingers. He kept the batteries and gave the mower away - wasn't worth much sans batteries.

Repair - other than battery power the mower was just a rotary blade running on a shaft and bearing. My guess is that a phone AP will be available to trouble shoot any electrical issues.