Is electric the way to go now?

[Tommy Mckeown]

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.

A whole forum of small engines not running correct and still wondering if people will switch? I'm going to bet most people who simply want to get yardwork done will switch. Most of these bare tools are cheap to buy. I doubt you could run a profitable business repairing them. If your cordless drill broke would you search for someone to repair it or just buy another one? Battery operated tools are here to stay. That's exactly what a saw, a blower or a mower is. A tool.

 

[Beesnweeds]

Battery operated tools are here to stay. That's exactly what a saw, a blower or a mower is. A tool.

Yes, love my cordless drill but they're not power tools. Nobody is going to mow 10 acres, snow blow a 200 foot driveway or cut 6 cords of wood with electric.

 

[Thalweg]

A whole forum of small engines not running correct and still wondering if people will switch? I'm going to bet most people who simply want to get yardwork done will switch. Most of these bare tools are cheap to buy. I doubt you could run a profitable business repairing them. If your cordless drill broke would you search for someone to repair it or just buy another one? Battery operated tools are here to stay. That's exactly what a saw, a blower or a mower is. A tool.

That is an interesting point. Over the years Makita periodically has times when they promote services to send in tools that need repair and they will fix them for the cost of the parts. They've fixed the tools and never even charged me for the parts. They even covered the shipping. I wonder if that would apply to the outdoor power equipment?

 

[echelonphoto]

I went all electric 4 years ago and NEVER looked back...really dont know why so many want to deal with smelly , finicky gas equipment. I have a 3rd acre corner property with 600 feet of curb exposure. I have been running an ego selfpropelled for 4 years without a hitch. Easier to push, no problem starting, no fumes, so strong it actually pulls me along. Battery has been fine...actually if it gave up after 4 years, I already got my moneys worth, but its stilling going strong. I use a ryobi 40 volt string trimmer to edge my 600 ft of frontage in about 10 minutes...thats 3 separate edges to total 1800 ft. I then clean up with my ryobi 40 volt hurricane blower. If I had a larger property, I would probably go with an electric rider next.

 

[echelonphoto]

Hard to believe that much of this lame brain crap is not padding the pockets of our lame brain president...

Yeah...that Trump guy...all he does is complain about his woes.

 

[jshireley]

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.

I have many, many, many rechargeable drills, drivers, circular saws etc I use on job sites that would beg to differ. I bet you might too if you stopped to think about it. Very durable. And... they start right up first time, every time!

 

[sharnett]

There is nothing inherently wrong with electric. I personally won't miss the incessant while of weed whackers and especially leaf blowers. The sweet sound of suburbia. The problem is that the manufacturers are making the cheapest product possible in order to be able to compete with big box store IC equipment. So when the batteries die after a year, you've got a piece of junk. It doesn't have to be that way. A well made lithium battery that is properly managed (charged and discharged) can last for many years.

 

[jshireley]

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!

Please Google "Willow Project" and then get back to us on this topic. Or don't. Learning new things is up to all of us individually.

 

[jshireley]

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.

Just to be clear about this: you think that Space 1999 was a documentary of some kind, and that Russia invaded Ukraine because they don't have enough room in their own country. And they've already nuked Ukraine several times.

I have to admit, I originally signed on to this forum looking up information on a carb I was rebuilding/cleaning, but now I'm going to have to stay for the informative and entertaining posts. This is just the greatest!

 

[jshireley]

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.

You should have stayed with this line. I was reading these posts out loud to my wife and started with your premise of trying to learn new things. She said "good for that guy, he wants to learn and look to the future". But then after some of the negative (and kind of ignorant if we're being honest) comments, you seem to have caved to the idiocy of anti-technology people who think that ICE tech has been around for a thousand years, and also don't seem to grasp the idea that shoving our planet full of carbon discharge might not be a growth option for our species. Bravo to the first version of you, boo to the second. Come back to the light side!