What yall think about electric yard equipment?

[David London]

I was in a big box store yesterday shopping when I came across some electric equipment. More specifically I checked out an electric zero turn and snowblower.  Since its pretty close to the end of the mowing season I wouldn't be buying a zero turn. However, I was really looking at the electric snowblower. I do have a CC gas snowblower and it's works pretty well. I'm thinking about going electric due to the higher gas prices. In my part of Michigan, the prices of unleaded run about $3.30 as of yesterday. Anybody on here have any experience with any of these electric machines? Drop me a comment. Thanks!

  

[wingless]

A cordless electric snowblower will likely run out of "gas" w/ a normal sized property, decreasing the expected utility.

 

A corded electric snowblower should have a heavy duty extension cord and properly wired 15A or preferably 20A GFCI receptacle. The operation will require attention to the cord to avoid injestion into the auger.

 

Electric motors are great, w/ lots of torque.

 

The intentionally elevated Biden / Harris / Obama fuel prices fold over into electricity (plus inflation on everything else) so I would expect operation costs to be a wash between the possible fuel sources. One thing I noticed is my new gasoline lawnmower gets MUCH better fuel economy than my recently retired 25 year old mower, so new versus old will have a fuel savings.

 

Or just move here to southern Florida and retire the thoughts of blowing snow.

[David London]

6 hours ago, wingless said:

A cordless electric snowblower will likely run out of "gas" w/ a normal sized property, decreasing the expected utility.

 

A corded electric snowblower should have a heavy duty extension cord and properly wired 15A or preferably 20A GFCI receptacle. The operation will require attention to the cord to avoid injestion into the auger.

 

Electric motors are great, w/ lots of torque.

 

The intentionally elevated Biden / Harris / Obama fuel prices fold over into electricity (plus inflation on everything else) so I would expect operation costs to be a wash between the possible fuel sources. One thing I noticed is my new gasoline lawnmower gets MUCH better fuel economy than my recently retired 25 year old mower, so new versus old will have a fuel savings.

 

Or just move here to southern Florida and retire the thoughts of blowing snow.

Hello Wingless! 

I would hope that if the snowblower is charged to 100% it would last awhile. Of course that's going to depend on how much and dense snow that you're trying to remove. The electric zero turn was sharp and it was about 5Gs with a 42" deck. That's about $1500 more than my gravely zero turn with 50" deck I bought in 2009. BTW, Southern Florida sounds good especially since winter is not that far away! 

[Jronman]

@David London Battery powered equipment has come a long way. I currently use an Ego single stage snowblower. Runtime is good enough. I use it to make money in the winter. I don't even own a gas unit but I also have more Ego batteries than the average person. You won't likely run out of charge on your property unless you have a large amount of snow. In that case you would want a 2 or 3 stage snowblower. I want to say you could get 2 driveways of 2 car widths done on a single charge with a couple inches of snow.

[hloevrona]

Electrical equipment is easier to service a fact. The most obvious advantage of electric yard equipment (whether battery-operated or corded) is that no gas engine maintenance is required - no oil changes, spark plugs, or air filters. And if you store it for the winter, there's no inherent fear that it won't start in the spring. In fact, gas equipment can act fussy without proper maintenance (and most people don't care about proper maintenance). In contrast, electric equipment behaves pretty well with minimal supervision. Well, if you need more serious equipment.

[fm2176]

1 hour ago, hloevrona said:

Electrical equipment is easier to service a fact. The most obvious advantage of electric yard equipment (whether battery-operated or corded) is that no gas engine maintenance is required - no oil changes, spark plugs, or air filters.

 

Besides the 20" chainsaw, all of my OPE is cordless.  It's definitely true that it's easier to service (because, well, it doesn't need annual servicing).  Most homeowners, along with some professionals, are well served with electric mowers, chain and pole saws, hedge trimmers, and string trimmers.  I get some satisfaction when I see a neighbor struggling to pull start their mower or other equipment,, while I pop a battery in and start working.

[Jronman]

I am kinda interested in the 30 inch walk behind from SCAG. I might just have to see what the all electric version is all about. It will be using a commercial grade battery from Vanguard. Hopefully the price isn't terrible. The all electric residential riding mower from SCAG is more expensive than most of their commercial grade gasoline mowers. I don't know pricing on the 30 inch.

[fyrfytr998]

Within this coming decade, I think folks thoughts on Electric OPE will be moot, at least here in the states. California has already begun the process of banning gasoline powered OPE, and other states are drafting up similar proposals.

 

My buddy bought an E-Go two stage snow blower this year and says it has been one of his favorite purchases to date. I myself have been grabbing my battery powered limb saw over my Gas Pole Saw and Corded Chain Saw for basic yard duties.

 

What hurts is the initial cash outlay for electric. And holy cow the battery prices for 40v and up!

[fm2176]

17 hours ago, fyrfytr998 said:

Within this coming decade, I think folks thoughts on Electric OPE will be moot, at least here in the states. California has already begun the process of banning gasoline powered OPE, and other states are drafting up similar proposals.

 

My buddy bought an E-Go two stage snow blower this year and says it has been one of his favorite purchases to date. I myself have been grabbing my battery powered limb saw over my Gas Pole Saw and Corded Chain Saw for basic yard duties.

 

What hurts is the initial cash outlay for electric. And holy cow the battery prices for 40v and up!

 

I'm onboard with electric OPE but think that banning gasoline powered equipment is ridiculous.  It is nice having a quiet and easy to start piece of equipment, as opposed to a noisy pull-start engine, however, battery operated equipment just lacks the runtime and (somewhat) power of its gas counterparts.  

 

The prices are high, though thinking about the relative lack of maintenance and the fact that gas and/or oil aren't necessary takes away some of the sticker shock.  I used to buy a few gallons of gas each year for my chainsaw and string trimmer and would usually end up with half of the mix leftover at the end of the season.  I'm not looking forward to when I have to replace batteries.  The EGO 10Ah battery is $450, more than I paid for my mower with 5Ah battery!  For this reason I've all but decided to go with a gas ZTR mower later this year.  When I was still a year or more from moving, I was checking out the EGO ZTR mower.  I can get a similarly featured gas mower for about $1500 less, though, and not have to worry about the $1800 worth of batteries the EGO comes with needing eventual replacement.  Checking out EGO's site, they now have a 52" mower with six 12Ah batteries.  Given the $5500 price of the 42" with four 10Ah batteries, I'd hate to see how much this costs.

[Jronman]

Really depends on your perspective. If your going commercial gas then you will likely pay more than battery in some cases.

[fyrfytr998]

On 4/6/2022 at 1:55 PM, Jronman said:

Really depends on your perspective. If your going commercial gas then you will likely pay more than battery in some cases.

That's the one drawback to full acceptance. A huge initial cash outlay really sours some folks. If makers could just wrangle in those battery prices.....