Seems the time for corded electric mowers has come and gone. Battery mowers, or cordless mowers, are now price and function competitive with gas.
With my continuing efforts to move away from fossil fuels and clean up my act, this year I bought an Electric Vehicle (EV). Also, ever since Ohio had free choice of electric suppliers I have always selected a 100% renewable source.
It seems battery-electric mowers really started to make it into the mainstream around 2005. But, they were expensive and often underperformed their gas equivalents. As Lithium-Ion batteries became more prevalent their prices eventually started to fall. The previous Nickel-Cadmium batteries were really just horrible for any heavy-duty use.
Corded electric mowers have been around for quite a while and have been my mower of choice for the last few years.
Not only do I get a nice walk in the yard, but I also get an upper body workout trying to manage the electric cord.
Now with high functioning and great batteries available, the prices have fallen to where for most smaller yards, a cordless mower is really the way to go. You don’t even have to be a green tree-hugger like myself because they are just a better choice even without considering the environmental benefits.
As a long-time environmentalist, it has been sad for me to see that people have not moved more quickly to “green” choices. It seems the vast majority of people put little value on the environmental benefits of their choices. Why do so many people drive those HUGE cars?
Mowers Compared to Tesla
I continue to thank Tesla for “accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” The prime contributor to this transition has not been people’s consideration of the environment. It is that Tesla has shown that electric vehicles (and a renewable grid) are just a better option. Pound for pound. Feature for Feature.
Their cars are faster, more economical, safer, more reliable, and way more feature-rich than the gas equivalents. They are also stated as being lower total cost of ownership, which I also believe to be true, but think we need them to stand the test of time to really prove this out.
The same has come true for electric cordless mowers.
Frankly, Corded Mowers are a Pain
I have been a corded electric mower owner and user for quite some time. It is the green in me that made this so. I wanted to get away from those stinky, polluting, noisy, troublesome gas mowers. But, previously the cordless battery mowers were so expensive and often underpowered and narrow and not well constucted.
With the batteries being the technology which needed to catch up, the prime benefit of the corded mower was the lower cost. Also, since they could draw up to 15A, they can be very powerful.
What I did not realize is that even with my small lawn, cord management is a pain. For years I kept thinking I’ll figure out a mowing pattern that will allow me to spend more time mowing than dealing with cord management.
Yeah, I have become better at mowing without putting the cord at risk of getting cut. Start near the plugin point and mow across moving away from the house. Turn this way or that so you don’t have to jump the cord. On and on.
I even went through a phase where I said to my son, not only do I get a nice walk in the yard, but I also get an upper body workout trying to manage the electric cord. It was about this time when I realized it was getting a bit silly.
Moving to a Battery Cordless Mower
I’m so excited that I have made the move to a cordless mower. The price is right. Not really a used market for them though. The newer mowers with the better batteries just continue to get used. The majority of used cordless mowers are those ones with tired old-technology batteries that are not worth using.
There are additional considerations for cordless mowers as you need to pay attention and get the right battery size and mower for your yard. And if your yard goes much beyond an acre, you might just not have cost-effective options.
Just like my electric car, I assume it will quickly become just a normal thing. For now, I’m very excited and look forward to reporting more on how it goes.
What about Push Mowers
I have tried push mowers several times. And perhaps I never spent enough money to get a really good one. I a nice workout, and actually have enjoyed using the push mowers, but the results have always been underwhelming. I’m glad the cordless mowers are here as they can supply excellent results without the pollution downside.
