New Battery Powered LawN Mowers Quiet the CritiCs, reduCe air PoLLutioN. Rise of Electric MowersCutting the grass, that most mundane of homeownership tasks, can be an act of significant environmental importance ― depending on the type of tool used to accomplish the job.

Using a battery-powered mower in place of a traditional gas-fired mower brings about immediate and long-term environmental benefits. Gas- and diesel-burning lawn equipment such as lawn mowers produce about 5 percent of air pollution annually in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Electric lawn mowers, on the other hand, are far more environmentally friendly. Both battery- powered and corded electric mowers rely on simple household electrical current as their power source. They emit no noxious fumes in use, nor do users risk spilling gas and oil on the ground.

“It’s easy to make the environmental case for electric lawn mowers,” says Wouter Barendrecht, chief executive officer of General Transmissions, the world’s leading maker of transmissions and other drive train components for the lawn and garden industry. The company has sold more than 20 million transmissions to lawn mower manufacturers worldwide.

“The performance case for owning an electric mower, specifically a battery powered self-propelled walk-behind mower, keeps getting better and better too,” he says. “Most battery-powered lawn mowers operate on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries ― the same type of battery chemistry that powers electric vehicles such as Teslas. You can drive a Tesla Model S electric vehicle 250 miles or more on a single battery charge,” says Barendrecht. At highway

speeds, that’s about four hours of travel time. Most homeowners can trim their lawns in somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour. The market offers an abundance of battery-powered lawn mowers within that operating range, made by reputable companies that back their products.

“The lawn mower makers have worked hard to earn consumer confidence in their battery-powered mowers,” says Barendrecht. “Electric mowers are just a better way to go for most people today.”

“We all need clean air to breathe,” Barendrecht says. “Few of us are yet in a position to own an electric vehicle, nor has the industry resolved the problems associated with producing an EV fully competitive with a conventional gas- or diesel-powered automotive vehicle. Lawn mowers are another story entirely. The battery powered lawn mowers of today are powerful enough, and hold a charge long enough, to satisfy the grass-cutting needs of most homeowners.”

W H I T EP A P E R

“the battery powered lawn mowers of today are powerful enough, and hold a charge long enough, to satisfy the grass-cutting needs of most homeowners.”

Some EVs achieve an estimated 250 miles (4 hours)

on a single battery charge

Battery-powered lawn mowers cut grass for up to one hour on

a single battery charge.

The Early YearsThe lawn mower industry has long had an electric side to it, dating back to the early years of the 20th century. Lawn mower makers of that era experimented with electricity-powered machines ― and even steam-powered ones! The industry’s early-days, short-lived experiments with electric motors lost steam against the rise of the internal combustion engine. Internal combustion engines displaced electricity and steam as the primary power sources for 20th century lawn mowers, just as they did for automobiles. And just as automobiles provided the mobility for people to move to suburbia, lawn mowers enabled homeowners to own homes bounded on every side by grassy green lawns. Lawns that required regular and meticulous care, primarily in the form of grass-cutting, throughout the growing season.

Given the obvious environmental advantages of using batteries as a power source for lawn mowers, it only makes sense to foresee a time when electric mowers predominate. Even today, battery-powered mowers are the fastest- growing part of the lawn mower market. Electric mowers earned a 15% slice of the multi-billion-dollar lawn mower market in 2018, most of it by virtue of increased sales of battery-powered machines.

While lawn equipment remains primarily a matter of personal choice, many government entities, seeking to reduce pollution, offer rebates and incentives for people to trade in their gas-powered equipment and go electric.

Nation of Apartment-Dwellers or Homeowners?

The decline of people’s interest in pursuing the American dream of homeownership, especially in large urban areas and especially among Millennials, has been widely bandied about in recent years. The notion that most people today just prefer apartment or townhome living has become near-accepted wisdom. But in actual fact, the American dream of homeownership is alive and well and on the upswing. Almost 65% of American families owned a home at the end of 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Homeownership has been on the upswing of late, and the

national rate now runs just slightly behind the 65.2 percent annual average of the past 54 years.

And while we’re on the subject of myth-busting, let’s also consider how it’s said that Millennials ― oh, yes, the younger generation is always the “it” generation, always in the limelight for something ― eschews doing anything remotely considered “drudgework.”

One thing that every homeowner learns, and sooner rather than later, is that the grass never gets around to cutting itself. And as those who join the ever-swelling ranks of homeowners can attest, to know this is to also know the critical importance of owning the right kind of lawn mower.

Of course, that mower needs to be capable of getting the job done, in short order and with the least amount of physical exertion possible (remembering, as the homeowner will, that many a grass-cutting day will be termed “hot and humid” by the local weather pundits). To that end, both newly minted and veteran homeowners may talk themselves into purchasing a growling, gas-burning, grass-eating beast of a machine ― the same type of machine, no matter whether walked or driven across the unforgiving turf ― that previous generations, some having come of age in the great age of American automotive iron (when horsepower-devouring cars were made for burning rubber, and gasoline itself sold for cents-per-gallon), bought: a gas-fueled machine sporting a Motor City-inspired internal combustion engine. Consumers knew the value of the machine by its ability to roar: the louder and more consistent its roar, the more likely it was the right machine for the job, or so might the thinking have gone.

Such machines exist even today and actually in great quantities. In lawn mowers, as in automobiles, the internal combustion engine still holds sway. Yet even as the automotive industry struggles to develop a mass market for e-vehicles, the lawn mower industry powers forward, producing and selling more and more electric lawnmowers, especially of the cordless variety, harnessed to ever-more-powerful lithium-ion battery packs, every year.

Improved Lithium Battery Performance

Lithium battery performance has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years, thanks in no small part to the Herculean efforts of the automotive industry to develop

the lawn mower industry powers forward, producing and selling more and more electric lawnmowers, especially of the cordless variety.

of american families owned a home in 2018Source: U.S. Census Bureau

electric mowers earned 15% of the push mower market in 2018.

the market for electric vehicles. Lawn mowers use the same type of batteries, albeit on a much smaller scale, as do some of the big automotive makers ―most notably Tesla. The automotive industry’s work trickles down to charge up the lawn mower industry, he says. In the case of self-propelled lawn mowers, the newest ones come equipped with 40v-80v power packs, delivering anywhere from 2 to 8 amps of power. That’s more than enough juice to accomplish the job for owners of typical single-family homes with yards as big as ¼ acre.

“A self-propelled battery-powered mower can stay on the job for anywhere from 30-60 minutes, comfortably,” says Barendrecht. It’s not uncommon to derive a full hour of constant use from a battery-powered walk behind.

“The amount of time you get from a single battery charge also depends on the type of terrain,” he says. “Hilly terrain can sap the power of the battery more rapidly, as will also be the case in going up against very thick or wet turf.” (It’s best to avoid using an electric mower on wet grass, due to the sensitive nature of the electrical components. Most people don’t mow in wet grass with their gas-powered machines either, due both to the fact that wet grass is more difficult to cut and water inevitably leads to rust and corrosion of metal parts.)

It’s not easy to break the internal-combustion habit. People know gas-powered lawn mowers. They grew up with them, mowing lawns for allowance money. The industry produces very reliable, sturdy and efficient gas-powered lawn mowers that last for years. But their disadvantages are beginning to add up.

•Theyblastaway,disturbingneighbors

•Theyemitnoxiousandsmellyexhaustfumesthat cling to the user’s clothing and hair – and those fumes are considered air pollutants. Global warming arguments aside, localized air pollution is simply not healthy to breathe, and that’s especially true for the very young and old and anyone with a respiratory ailment

•Theyrequireongoingmaintenance

•Theyconsumefossilfuels

Skeptics love to point out the seeming fallacy in the argument that says electric mowers are better for the environment. The lawn mower draws its electrical power, either stored in a battery or through direct connection in the case of a corded electric lawnmower, from the local electric company, which may be generating power by means of burning coal or natural gas, or by tapping nuclear energy. None of those variants delivers purely

“clean” energy, from an environmental point of view. But the drawbacks to using such energy sources are more than outweighed by the more toxic emissions produced by the internal combustion engines in use on so many lawn mowers today.

Most people would rather tear their toenails out than change out the oil on their lawn mower, although they know they must do so on a regular basis to extend the life of the engine. No matter how easy the manufacturer makes it to perform a DIY oil change, it’s always an onerous task. And then there’s the question of what to do with the used oil. It has to be stored in a container and then taken to a recycling center. And if that’s not enough, there’s the ongoing task of keeping the gas tank filled over the course of a long mowing season. That sounds simple enough, but it really isn’t. People spill more than 17 million gallons of gasoline every year while attempting to fill their lawn mowers’ gas tanks, according to the EPA.

The cost of lithium-ion batteries varies by manufacturer. Batteries add to the initial cost when buying an electric lawn mower, but contribute only small incremental charges to the household electric bill subsequently. A gas-powered, self-propelled mower can consume $40-$50 of gasoline per year, plus another $15-$20 for oil, filters and spark plug. Over a four to five year period, the cost of ownership for the gas-burning machine equals or surpasses that for the battery powered one. The cost of all those ongoing maintenance items adds up, season by season. That’s not to mention other maintenance expenses such as an annual

Gallons of gasoline spilled per year filling lawn mower tanks.Source: EPA

the newest self-propelled lawn mowers come equipped with 40v-80v power packs, delivering anywhere from 2 to 8 amps of power. that’s more than enough juice to

accomplish the job for owners of typical single-family homes with yards as big as 1/4 acre.

“hilly terrain can sap the power of the battery more rapidly, as will also be the case in going up against very thick or wet turf.”

engine tune-up. As to the electric mower, so long as the batteries are properly maintained (mostly by keeping them charged, even in the off-season) and not subjected to any abuse, they run maintenance free.

The Market is EvolvingMany of the lawn mower makers produce other battery powered yard tools, such as string trimmers, chain saws and edgers. The battery that powers the lawn mower may also be used interchangeably with other yard tools sold under the same brand name, resulting in a significant savings to the consumer.

Battery-powered lawn mowers cut grass as well or better than their gas-powered counterparts, according to Consumer Reports. Electric mowers can cut grass with the best of the traditional mowers, and many of the newer self-propelled models now offer bagging and mulching options as well. And the best of the self-propelled walk-behinds also feature variable speed and on-the-go control over traction speed.

General Transmissions was first to the market with a variable-speed transmission for battery-powered, self-propelled walk-behind lawn mowers. The drive motor for the Element V Electric transmission fits directly to the transmission. Power flows directly to the wheels for maximum efficiency. A separate motor powers the cutting blade. The user can change wheel speeds at will, tapping only as much battery power as needed to handle the job.

“Mowers equipped with the Element V Electric drive let the operator work at his/her own pace,” says Barendrecht. The ability to change traction speed on the fly has long been made available for the gas-powered self-propelled end of the walk-behind market. Several major lawn mower manufacturers have installed the General Transmissions variable-speed electric transmission in certain of

their models, including DR Power Equipment, Ryobi, Greenworks, Craftsman and Kobalt, among others.

Most homeowners can get by just fine with a battery powered walk-behind lawn mower, says Barendrecht. Not only are the batteries more serviceable than ever, but the amount of lawn to cut has shrunk, on average, over the past decade. The American dream is getting a makeover, post-recession. The trend is to squeeze larger homes onto smaller lots, leaving less green space for homeowners to bask in on warm summer nights ― and keep in well-mowed trim too.

The average size of a new house today is about 2,600 square feet. It sits on a 0.19-acre plot of land. The larger house leaves room for just a 0.14-acre grass spread, on average. That’s well within the wheelhouse of most battery-powered lawn mowers, which are set to handle up to one-quarter of an acre on a single battery charge.

To recharge the battery, simply remove it from the lawn mower, place it in the recharger and plug that into any ordinary household electrical outlet.

The electric lawn mower era has arrived, says Barendrecht. And when it comes to self-propelled lawn mowers, the electrics have it all over their gas-powered cousins. The self-propelled mower is the most popular type of walk-behind mower in America today. The battery-powered options cut the grass as well or better, make so little noise that you could conceivably cut the grass at midnight if you were so inclined without annoying your somnolent neighbors, handle easier because they weigh less than a gas-powered mower encumbered with bulky internal-combustion-engine components, and they take up less storage space. All that, and they’re better for the environment too. Homeowners of America, it’s time to charge up ― not gas up ― your lawnmowers!

“electric mowers can cut with the best of the traditional mowers.”Source: Consumer Reports

dr Power equipment, ryobi, Greenworks, Craftsman, Kobalt and others have already adopted the variable speed feature.