Is electric the way to go now?

[Vntg-Gearhead]

I have a stash of old B&D 18v NiCad power tools. Sawsall, Small chain saw, small circular saw, blower, weed eater, drill, impact drill, & hand vac. NiCad sucks, weak, & drains fast. Not wanting to replace all the tools & having to deal with several different (not interchangable) battries, I looked around for LiFePo adaptors. They're out there. Chose the brand battery you want, then the adaptor for your tool.

However, I went down a different road after stumbling across LiFePo 18v that directly replaces the B&D NiCad. Same price as NiCad too. I bought 2 at first (2019). Made my tools feel turbo charged. After 1 year, 1 batt went bad. I bought 2 more (2021). Now I have 3 good batteries that will weed eat my whole yard using 2 batteries. Blower uses all 3 batteries when I do the spring blow out to mulch afterwards.

Moral of this story is you'll need to go with one brand of equipment to avoid several different style batteries. Not uncommon for some to go bad early. A lot of the electric tools are junk, some are good. So, do your research. Read negative reviews, look for similar complaints (most positive reviews are fake). Since big box hardware stores will do nothing if you get a bad one (of anything), online purchases have no more disadvantages & usually cheaper.

LiFePo issues:
For longer life, allow to cool before charging.
Fire potential has been greatly reduced w/BMS (Battery Management System). That's the electronics board you see (if you take one apart) that turns battey off to prevent over discharge and over charge. BMS has been improved over the years to avoid these issues.

Vehicles & oil:
For me, the range of electric vehicles (about 250 miles or more) is fine. In 2024 I hope to get a VW ID Buzz (as in bus) cargo w/solar panels on roof. Gas & diesel vehicles & equipment will always be available but there's a problem. Unlike normal supply & demand, reduced demand for fuel will not make it cheaper. Big oil must retain the position of the most profitable industry in the world. Opec will cut production, lowering the supply, raising prices. It's happened many times in my life & mostly when a particular political party controls the WH, making it look as if it's their fault. NO political party or President has control over gas prices. Currently the US is one of the largest producers of oil. We had to be due to Opec cutting production. Now, think of your grand & great grand or even great great grand children. They will need oil for war. Oil was a big reason we won WWII. Oil is a finite not infinite resource. Oil has been politicized heavly since 1974. Much earlier than that, titans of industry had battles with it at consumers expence since the conversion from whale oil to kerosen. Always a divisive topic (big oil wants it that way for profit). Divide & concur.

Recycling:
This issue is in it's infancy & we need honest people to work on this. China is the worlds largest recycler of batteries (possible more than all the other world combined). I'm sure it's government subsidized. Think of this, in the US, farmers get subsidized. I asked a big farmer about this. He said it's complicated but we have the cheapest food than most if not all of the world. So here is the problem of politicizing oil verses electric. Many don't want the government involved. Yet those same people will use the Eisenhower interstate system. Lots of money being made by keeping us divided. Problem = find a solution. Politicize a problem = never gets solved & many make big $ from division of the people.

 

[laurin800]

My opinion is that Washington DC is just completely filled idiot politicians of all parties. As long as they are fighting a cookie like a bunch of spoil brats we are never going get anything done by them. So I have just been ignoring them and take care business around here without them.

Not that my opinion means much, but I’m a gas guy too. Although I’ve boughten 25 small engine carbs in the last year. Ty for the additives that eat rubber… as for Ukraine, it’s long been known that they were extremely corrupt, and our #1 and his son dealt directly with them earlier. I don’t think I’ll go along with the medias portrayal of Putin. I mean the media has always been 100% spot on honest with us I know. I have heard Putin say that he would never let his country turn into a California though, so there’s that. Our leaders drive to tear up our country for lithium is almost comical and buying fuel from lesser green countries is a joke too. Oh, btw, I don’t like battery equipment because of the environmental impact. Sorry, got sidetracked.

 

[mechanizm]

Electric motors or more powerful last longer they're lighter. They cost less to produce and a battery technology is moving away from lithium into graphene Which is less polluting last longer and holds more energy.

too little too late... anyone who buys an EV of any type is ignoring THIS:

The Environmental Impact of Lithium Batteries

During the Obama-Biden administration, hydraulic fracturing was accused of causing a number of environmental problems—faucets on fire, contamination of drinking…

www.instituteforenergyresearch.org

 

[mechanizm]

Tommy Mckeown said:
A whole forum of small engines not running correct and still wondering if people will switch?

the vast majority of the problems are minor fuel deliver issues. I can guarantee that my old JD L120 will outlive all of these overpriced electric mowers. when that ELT catches fire in your garage charging overnight don't blame me, blame yourself for falling for this Global Warming BS.

 

[dad7432]

Like it or not, a running ICE is both powerful and powerfully polluting. Like it or not, mining for batteries wrecks the physical environment and creates tons of other pollution. Both have huge issues.

I expect that electric is better for hand tools and mowers used by small urban or suburban landowners. ICE is and will remain, for quite a while, the choice for commercial operators and managers and owners of large plots.

I own a pole saw and a small chain saw that are plug in electric. I own some 12 volt electric Milwaukee hand power tools. All of my other outdoor power equipment is gas. A 20 year old large chain saw, a 25 year old rider mower, and a brand new Craftsman self propelled 22 inch mower are all gas. I can't see replacing either of the mowers with battery power. The battery powered electric units are expensive, but built cheap. I suspect that manufacturers are chasing a price point, but are faced with an expensive battery, so are cheapening out on everything that goes into the equipment itself.... hence the plastic blade/clutch bracket shown in one of the videos on this thread. No thanks.

 

[smhardesty]

You are 100% correct. We have a bunch of America haters in DC. They are destroying this country one day at a time. Remember how good this country was doing under Trump? If we don't stop Biden & his clown show all of us will be living under the CCP if we already aren't. Remember when gasoline was $1.86 a gallon? The country was booming like never before under Trump. I don't care if you hate the man the numbers don't lie. The 2020 election was rigged and the Green Deal is being shoved down our throats. Sorry if this was too political.

You have stated facts, for certain. I'm neither Republican nor Democrat, but I can see a huge difference in this country now versus when Trump was in office. My retirement dollars don't go anywhere near as far now as when he was in office. You're right. Hate the man or love him, this country was better then than now. And there isn't anyone anywhere that can dispute that. The one thing I have really noticed is that there just aren't any posts on Facebook or any forum I visit about what a great job Biden is doing. None. So, where are all those Democrats that were telling the whole world how great the man was and what a great job he would do if elected? There seems to be a definite shortage of those folks out there. Don't get me wrong. I'm no Trump fan. He never delivered on his promises regarding gun laws in this country. He campaigned on that, but fell WAY short of his supposed commitments. But, yeah, this country is hurting a LOT right now.

 

[smhardesty]

Small combustion engines lack emission controls, NOx, CO, etc a relatively more important health risk, not immediately hazardous, so easy to ignore.

I've seen similar statements about how deadly the fumes produced by an ICE are. Other than someone intentionally committing suicide, and other than idiots that don't work in a well ventilated area, I have never seen any reports of consumers or small engine repair guys dying from the fumes. Have I just missed all those reports of death? I have worked on ICEs of some sorts all my life. I have zero health issues as a result. Was I just lucky?

 

[TobyU]

As of now, it's not the best idea or most convenient for most people to go with battery powered equipment.
There are several reasons for this but most of it boils down to the battery technology, capacity, and lifespan just isn't there and it's not where it should be especially for 2023.
To be honest with you there's not a whole lot of difference in the battery technology for this type of equipment and for things like cordless drills etc then there was in the late 80s and early nineties.
Some people may disagree but...they are wrong. Lol
You could take a high quality Milwaukee or Makita drill from back then and compare it to your new latest and greatest lithium ion drill and about the only difference will be size and weight which for most people is not really a concern.
Some of the new ones are built and designed so weirdly that they won't even stand up on the their base upright like the old ones have done for decades.
The high qualities would drive hundreds of screws into deck wood or two before is ETC and had plenty of power and many of those are still being used today even though they're on there multiple sets of replacement batteries whereas the new ones end up having stripped out clutches and gears inside etc.
So they really haven't improved much and especially not where battery technology needs to be for 2023.
Hey, that's a rhyme.
The problem with battery is most people can't actually cut their lawn on One battery or one charge.
I guess it depends on where most of these people live because with smaller lots then sure you can pull it off but in a lot of areas around this country where lots are well over 1/3 acre and even at a half an acre you just can't do it unless you're simply walking the mower around the land and not really cutting grass.
The marketing is very deceptive and so is the specifications for these mowers. When they say cuts up to 1.2 acres or whatever it says or it says 20 minutes run time or 45 minutes run time, the problem is this is sometimes with the self-propelled feature off on a walk behind mower and it is always under ideal conditions of flat ground and barely trimming like under an inch off of the grass and certainly with grass that barely looks like it needs to be cut.
If you use one of these mowers for an overgrown lawn like many people have done with gasoline mowers where they only cut it every 10 to 20 days then you won't get over 15 minutes or so from one of these mowers and it will also look terrible because they bog down so much and don't even have much inertia from there wimpy light blades.
Now, some of the traditional gasoline more manufacturers are starting to build a more that looks just like their standard mowers and has a very similar if not the same blade and all they have done is put an electric motor in place of the gasoline engine and that's an improvement versus these narrower plastic battery powered mowers with a very thin light duty and lightweight blade.
Now the big problem previously was that the battery riders were extremely overpriced! But now they're solving that problem because they're just raising the prices on the gasoline ones to exorbitant crazy levels!
I predicted this last year and I'm seeing it come true. The Cub cadet 42 inch mower at Home Depot I believe was 4,400 but it was some crazy amount whereas the gasoline one earlier that season and the end of the season before was 1588 or 1799 depending on engines and stuff like that.
So now these gasoline mowers which are the exact same mower for all intents and purposes they were the year before with some of them being the exact same mowers that were just rolled in in September and then rolled back out in March are now $3,000 or something like that and it's ridiculous.
Early on you were paying a premium to be a pioneer for a battery mower as they were five and six hundred dollars when the gasoline option was 249 to 349.
Then all of a sudden a season or two ago I saw them flip those prices and they had lowered the price of the battery mowers and raise the prices of the gasoline so all these manufacturers are going to do is messing around different ways and use one to subsidize the other and eventually the prices will meet probably in the middle or the industry will be so against gasoline that they will charge an actual premium on those which is obviously just a penalty premium to deter sales of them and just steer people in the direction of battery mowers.
It just blows back to the problem now that whether you love them or hate them because there are some pluses and minuses of each, the problem is for most people a battery powered mower and battery battery powered equipment is too much of a sacrifice.
You sacrifice too much use time and too much power.
Then top it off with the battery life span is not very good and the replacement battery prices are quite amazingly High currently
But the air conditioning us to expect to put big money into everything or a large percentage of the price because it's not like you can buy a lawn mower today and that engine is going to last 20 plus years like the old ones. You're lucky to get 8 or 10 years out of these new ones with their stupid plastic camshaft and stuff like that and they want you to have to buy a new one or put $250 into repair on a $450 lawn mower which is absurd.
So it doesn't make it sound so bad to spend $149 for One battery and 199 for the more capacity one. I was literally at Menards last week and they had three batteries available for their line of outdoor power equipment . They all three were overpriced but the highest amp hour capacity was 199.
$200 for a battery for anything is a rip-off but especially something that's probably only going to get you two to three years at best and the capacity won't be very good the last third of that lifespan.
As we go further into the future and they continue to contaminate and use up lithium and stuff like that I'm sure they'll be price premiums and penalties involved in these prices and batteries could be even more expensive..
It's simply a solution for a non problem!
It's fine to have little cheap ones like blowers and string trimmers for people who like the events of just sticking the battery on and going out and doing a quick trim or blow but if you need something for over 12 to 15 minutes you're pretty much out of luck and then you're switching batteries and all of that.
But it's nice not to have to pull the rope and start one because they never got smart enough to make them easier to start despite three different attempts I can think of none of which panned out very well.
Unfortunately those of us who like the one and done theory of buying something good quality and never having to buy another one is probably a thing of the past but the problem is they haven't lowered the price to make up for it so at the end of 30 or 40 years you still spent the same amount per year of ownership.
Most people in this world and most entities actually want us to spend more money and they want it to be more expensive to live even if you are lucky enough to get more money, have more money, earn more money etc. They don't care even if they give it to you, they just want you to spend more because more is always better in their eyes.

 

[TobyU]

Yes, probably too political for a lawn mower forum.

You make a good point.

For a long time the gasoline equipment manufacturers stayed far far away from battery but then they eventually saw the demand so most of them have gotten into them too.
One big problem is they're actually driving the nails into their own coffin by making poor quality equipment like you mentioned.
They make these things not very durable and they don't do their best to make them easy to start and keep doing it so it certainly leads people towards battery powered equipment because all you have to do is stick the battery in it and pull the trigger the problem though is still a sacrifice in other areas..
What you gain in one area, you lose in another. It's super quick convenient and easy to blow the grass off your sidewalk but if you're not done in 12 to 15 minutes it becomes quite a hassle whereas once you start that gasoline one you can pretty much go all day without ever turning it off.
Yes, you can put gas in them with them running as many people have done over the years but if you have a good one that's designed properly and everything else like many from the past, you just turn them off fill them up and one little quick pull they're back up and idling to speed again.
You can use a blower like that or a string trimmer for hours which is something you just can't do with battery.
The same goes for mowers too.
So, basically, the cheapness of the industry and the penny pinches from The Bean counters has just helped to further destroy the industry and even help the evolution to battery..
I tell my customers all the time that mowers and outdoor power equipment is on a downward spiral to junk.

 

[KBeitz]

Ok... Let me stirr the pot.... Most of the people here that's against the electric stuff has no idea....
You are not doing your research.... Electric going to win....
I'll start by saying that I have over 50 gas tractors and I love them.
But I also have electric. I love them even more.
Lets talk about batteries. Do your research... Look up Solid state batteries . No joke....
These batteries are made from sodium and sand. No hurting the environment here.
Battery was tested in a car and went from the east coast of USA to the west coast 3 times on one charge. I could tell you a lot about this battery but I'll just let you all do your own research.
Some here say when the electric stuff gets old it will be junk. My 1972 Wheelhorse electric tractor is still working great. I have family that just bought a Tesla car. They drove from Florida to Pa on one charge.
I just bought a Fucare Ebike and I got 160 miles on it so far and it's working great. Costing me
8 cents to ride 40 miles with me not helping pedal. I have bothe an electric chainsaw and a weed eater.
Both working great. Let me say I do hate all lithium batteries. Time bombs I call them. But when this
Solid state battery hits the market watch out. Just look how far electric fork lift trucks have come.