Battery-powered lawn equipment is here, and the prices are falling. Given the emissions of two-cycle engines, it’s a good time to switch to battery power.
According to the Environment Protection Agency, gasoline powered lawn and garden equipment produces up to 5% of the nation’s air pollution. Among these tools’ emissions are carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter.
An older push mower emits as much pollution as 11 cars, and an older riding mower emits as much as 34 cars. Newer mowers, depending on the model, emit between 35% and 90% percent less pollution. However, even at these improved rates, they are polluting more than a car.
Two-cycle engine lawn equipment (blowers, trimmers, etc.) are worse polluters because they don’t fully burn their oil-gas fuel mixture.
Electric lawn mowers and garden tools are a low-pollution alternative to these items. Best of all for the consumer, electric garden tools can cost about the same as gas powered tools in certain cases.
Corded electric push mowers tend to cost less than an equivalent gas lawn mower. Battery powered push lawn mowers can cost up to a few hundred dollars more. Riding battery lawn mowers can cost up to a few thousand dollars more. You can purchase riding mowers that have several removable batteries or one large battery that charges in place. The time to charge a battery is about equal to how long you have used it.
Electricity costs for these tools are about 90% less than for gas-powered equipment. It costs four cents to recharge my push mower battery vs about 40 cents for a pint of gas in my old mower. In addition, there is no engine maintenance.
Lithium batteries do slowly degrade over time. Over about a decade, or 3,000 charging cycles, these batteries will lose 20% of their capacity. You can still use the batteries at this point, but will need to charge them more frequently.
Here are some things that you can do to both help the environment and save on energy and energy costs.
- Purchase battery powered yard tools. Try to purchase tools that use the same battery/charger so you won’t have multiple chargers and can share batteries.
- If your yard is small enough, consider purchasing a corded electric lawn mower. This is the most efficient way to cut your grass and you won’t have to charge a battery.
- For larger yards, consider an electric push mower or self-propelled mower.
- If you need a riding mower, single battery mowers are less expensive than removable battery mowers, but they take several hours to recharge. If you buy a single battery mower, make sure it can cut at least 25% more than your yard size to allow for battery degradation.
Bruce Saller is a retired engineer and active participant in the Fredericksburg Clean and Green Commission. This series provides practical steps we can all take to reduce our carbon footprint – and often save money.
