Battery Mowers

shinytop

michaels said:

How much does the petrol you use cost, the electricity in the battery(s) will cost pennies.   Google suggests about 1 litre per hour.

Plus petrol mowers have no emission controls so really do pollute orders of magnitude worse than burning the same amount in a car.

Not as bad as my 2 stroke strimmer, blower and hedge cutter, all of which leave a blue, smoky haze behind them. Ypu have a point though.

shinytop

Exiled_Tyke said:

arty688 said:

Although its a bit like cars it probably not so much the range that's important but how quickly they can recharge. Also how often you mow you lawn ? The football lawn I do most weeks but the rest I usually leave too long so is always a struggle to mow so would kill a cordless in no time probably.

For me range is very important. Like @shinytop I don't want to have to stop (at all!) mid way.  And while I could tolerate a 'short' break I really don't want to have to do two or possibly three shift while I wait (for any time at all) for the recharge.    

A good point on the long grass. I have bulbs in some of mine so some areas don't get mown at all until June.  Most cordless mowers as you say won't cope with that.

That's what I was thinking. My Honda petrol mower will cut through and suck up almost anything, all day long. I think it's similar to EVs; I could make a battery mower work but would it would cost more and require a lot of faffing around.  In another parallel with EVs, there are lots of nice, affordable 2nd hand petrol mowers but the 2nd hand battery ones around are the low power, low range ones that nobody wants.

Jury's still out for me I think.    

JKenH

I’ve not done a scientific experiment but my 11hp ride on seems to run for 90 minutes (normal cutting time) on less than a couple of litres with a lot of shuffling backwards and forwards. I bought 20 litres of fuel last May and still haven’t used it all and that includes using it in a 22inch walk behind mower as well.  

QrizB

michaels said:

How much does the petrol you use cost, the electricity in the battery(s) will cost pennies.   Google suggests about 1 litre per hour.

I get through about ten litres a year, as a rough estimate.

michaels said:

Plus petrol mowers have no emission controls so really do pollute orders of magnitude worse than burning the same amount in a car.

I think that depends on which pollutants you measure. More CO and NOx? Certainly, there's no cat and only a very basic carb.

michaels

QrizB said:

michaels said:

How much does the petrol you use cost, the electricity in the battery(s) will cost pennies.   Google suggests about 1 litre per hour.

I get through about ten litres a year, as a rough estimate.

michaels said:

Plus petrol mowers have no emission controls so really do pollute orders of magnitude worse than burning the same amount in a car.

I think that depends on which pollutants you measure. More CO and NOx? Certainly, there's no cat and only a very basic carb.

I suspect a whole bunch of PMs and from what I remember of my parents it smells like a whole bunch of VOCs (not to mention my dad turning the air blue when they refuse to start on the pull cord)

Martyn1981

michaels said:

QrizB said:

michaels said:

How much does the petrol you use cost, the electricity in the battery(s) will cost pennies.   Google suggests about 1 litre per hour.

I get through about ten litres a year, as a rough estimate.

michaels said:

Plus petrol mowers have no emission controls so really do pollute orders of magnitude worse than burning the same amount in a car.

I think that depends on which pollutants you measure. More CO and NOx? Certainly, there's no cat and only a very basic carb.

I suspect a whole bunch of PMs and from what I remember of my parents it smells like a whole bunch of VOCs (not to mention my dad turning the air blue when they refuse to start on the pull cord)

Remember that vid from 'Now You Know' I posted, looking at the new ruling in California banning all petrol/diesel landscaping tools, mowers, leaf blowers etc.. I think they said the emissions were greater than the whole car fleet, and even the spilt petrol / evaporation was considerable when you add it all up. Plus of course the local noise, and the potential harm to the workers over a long day, even with ear defenders.

The savings* for a landscaping company were considerable and fast, but of course that was based on 7hrs per day 5 or 6 days a week.

*Based on difference in cost and leccy v's petrol and more importantly, the two stroke. Plus the time cost of servicing the kit which I think worked out as once a week in those circumstances. I think payback was about 6 months.

Law comes into force 2024.

Martyn1981

Really silly digression, sorry, but is it just me?

About 10yrs ago I stopped collecting the grass, it seemed silly to put it in a green bin for trucks to haul away. So instead of cutting the grass say every two weeks, I cut it roughly once a week, so the grass cuttings lay on the lawn and burn off that day, or the next.

The advantage is that I can walk really quickly (shorter grass, easier for the mower), zip up and down. No stopping to empty the grass box. If the grass is too tall, because I've left it too long, then I cut it at a higher height, then rinse and repeat perhaps 3 or 4 days later.

Sooo fast and easy. Am I the only one? Any downsides to this?

94JDH

Martyn1981 said:

Really silly digression, sorry, but is it just me?

About 10yrs ago I stopped collecting the grass, it seemed silly to put it in a green bin for trucks to haul away. So instead of cutting the grass say every two weeks, I cut it roughly once a week, so the grass cuttings lay on the lawn and burn off that day, or the next.

The advantage is that I can walk really quickly (shorter grass, easier for the mower), zip up and down. No stopping to empty the grass box. If the grass is too tall, because I've left it too long, then I cut it at a higher height, then rinse and repeat perhaps 3 or 4 days later.

Sooo fast and easy. Am I the only one? Any downsides to this?

No, it's a good Idea - my Stihl Battery mower has an mulching attachment specifically for this.

kazwookie

I bought one of these, when I moved as there is a much bigger lawn:- https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7366682?rec=PDP[7596696]:bottomSlider:P1:OHAT:alternatives:7366682:13TpKl8CRoubsSbVYiTR

It came with 2 batteries and I love it, does the job, various cutting heights.

The electric flymo I had just was  not coping with the larger lawn.

arty688

Cutting the lawn often is a great idea if you have the time and weather. A robot lawn mower is even better as it cuts even more often if you have the right lawn.

unfortunately I don’t have any of these things.