What about electric mowers and outboards?

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ALF

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 21, 2012
Messages
45
Location
Snohomish, WA
Now that I've been happily driving a LEAF for a couple of years, I've been thinking about replacing my gas lawn tractor and my boat's gas outboard motor. Has anyone else pursued these items?

I can only find one electric riding mower currently in production, the Cub Cadet RZT-S Zero. It looks interesting, but I can find no local dealer who has one, and no reviews regarding its performance.

There are a number of electric outboard motors, beyond the common little electric fishing trolling motors. Briggs and Stratton used to make one, but apparently no longer. The highest-tech (and highest cost) ones seem to come from a German company, Torqeedo/. Very interesting design and they appear to be very efficient. Reviews are uneven though, with some stating that longevity is a problem. There are American manufacturers as well, including Ray Electric Outboards, Elco Motor Yachts.
 
I bought a Neuton electric mower seven years ago. Prior to that, I had two Black&Decker battery mowers over the previous 25 years. All have been great, in particular the Neuton, which is powerful enough to mulch the clippings.. They are sold online at http://www.neutonpower.com/.

I looked into electric riding mowers, but they seem way too heavy, especially since they are carrying a rider as well as clipping the grass.

I'm waiting for a Lawn Roomba.
 
Back in 1996 I rescued a plug in mower out of the condo dumpster.
Used it for three years to mow the lawn at the small apartment building I had just bought.
Timing was perfect. Worked quite well with low noise, no fumes, no maintenance etc.
 
I like the Cub Cadet.
Never had a zero turn mower before and I really like that.
Run time is better than the other mowers I have tried.

However, I really wish someone would make one with Lithium batteries rather than lead.

We are moving later this year and will have a much smaller lawn so we will likely get a push mower.
 
JohnBike said:
I'm waiting for a Lawn Roomba.
I don't know anything about these, but they already exist:

  • Husqvarna ( http://www.husqvarna.com/us/products/robotic-mowers/husqvarna-robotic-mowers-for-homeowners/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )
    & Amazon: ( http://www.amazon.com/s?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3ARobotic%20Lawn%20Mowers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )
 
We have had the same Black & Decker CMM1000 cordless mulching mower for about 15 years. It was recently recalled, which involved changing a couple of components to make it into the later CMM1200, so we paid for a new battery and blade, which were installed for free as part of the recall. So 10+ years on the first battery, then a $120 upgrade to a newer configuration. It's been a very good mower.

I also have a smaller Minkota electric trolling motor that I bought for use on local electric-only lakes (not that I'd use a gas motor anyway), on rented rowboats. That only got used a few times before I got sick and stopped lugging it around, but it was great, and drew little enough current that I was able to use a fairly small 31AH Dell deep cycle battery with it.
 
I have no experience with riding mowers, but I have been using a corded electric mower for years. I love it - nothing but the smell of fresh cut grass! The cord is not a hassle at all once your used to it - provided that you have few obstructions (e.g. trees, gardens, etc). It doesn't sound like that's what you are looking for though. Good luck with your search, I'm sure you will find an electric mower far more pleasant than a gas one.

As for electric outboards, I have a Torqeedo that I have used to push my sailboat in and out of the marina. I have had it since summer 2011, and have had zero problems with it. I wrote an extensive review including some cases in which I would not recommend it here: http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=131151. If you have specific questions, I'd be glad to answer them. It really is the only electric outboard in the market (that I can find). There are plenty of low-speed trolling motors, but this thing can really haul by comparison (it's equivalent to a 4HP gasser). It also weighs less than a trolling motor + lead battery.

Edit: I guess I shouldn't say "zero" problems with the Torqeedo. It has occasionally thrown an error, but a simply reboot has always cleared it. This typically happens when I am fishing - I will use the motor for a minute to position the boat, and then stop it for half an hour and drift. Rinse repeat. The motor hasn't given me troubles while it was running.
 
We have a Solaris battery mower that was being sold by Home Depot for a couple of years. At the time it was the only one I could find that had a decent-sized cutting swath and also self-propelled. I'm fairly happy with it. It has a surprising bit of grunt and will chew through fairly high grass in mulching mode. The only downside is the lead-acid battery pack. And the low-voltage cutoff is 19.1 volts which is murderously low SOC for a (24V) lead-acid pack. Anyone who routinely runs the thing to a full stop is in for a rude surprise. Which I imagine led to a lot of unhappy owners and the Canadian company that made them gave up after a couple of years.

The original pack faded fairly quickly and I replaced with a good set of Panasonic SLA batteries. Those are now starting to decline and I plan on replacing the 17AH Lead-acid pack with a set of 7 or 8 40AH LiFePo4 cells this year.

Got the mower awhile before we got the 2012 LEAF. I love electric mowing for many of the same reasons I love driving the LEAF. Lack of smells, lack of fumes, lack of noise. No spilled gasoline, no trips to the station to lug a dangerous can of gasoline back home (imagine getting in a crash then!). I "fill" it at my own convenience and it's ready whenever I want it. No oil changes, no fussy starting, spark plugs etc... I can mow the grass without disturbing my neighbors; I can listen to music or podcasts, and all I smell is clean cut grass. I can even hear my pager go off. Well... nothing's perfect. :lol:
 
Nubo said:
No oil changes, no fussy starting, spark plugs etc...

Honestly, this is one of the best parts of owning an electric lawn mower. Every spring, I hear all of my neighbors fighting to start their mowers. I see them pulling on the cord, taking apart carburetors, changing spark plugs, the whole nine yards. Meanwhile, the only maintenance I perform is sharpening the blades. Otherwise, I plug in the mower and off I go.
 
torqeedo is one of the best outboards you can buy,here in europe 80% of sailboats and electric boats use the torqeedo.
a very good alternativ motor is the haswing protruar 2.0, it is brushless and i used it on some sailboats without any problems.
here in austria are no gas engines allowed,my new projekt is a boat with 19,5 KW/h lifepo batteries and a 11KW intermotor.
i also have a antares 780 with 2 torqeedos 4.0,which has agm batteries
and a saver 560 with one torqeedo 4.0 with agm batteries.

http://www.goingelectric.de/forum/elektroauto-umbau/motorboot-umgebaut-auf-elektroboot-t6986.html?hilit=elektroboot#p125378" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

here you see the big propeller of the 15HP electric engine,comares to the 15HP gasoline engine
http://www.goingelectric.de/forum/elektroauto-umbau/motorboot-umgebaut-auf-elektroboot-t6986.html?hilit=elektroboot#p148373" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
I've had an Earthwise 60120 24V cordless electric push mower since '09. We bought a spare battery for it when new (lead-acid) and alternate them and they're still going strong enough to mow between 1/4 and 1/3 acre lawn on a single charge but sometimes need 1 1/2. Towards the end of last mowing season (I'm in the Midwest), the lower handle broke on it and almost recycled the mower but was able to find a replacement for $20 including shipping so am all good for another season or so. I was hoping to see some newer battery tech besides the lead-acid as well as perhaps a decent self-propelled electric (despite most of the area being 'flat' out this way we do have a few hilly sections where it could help) but the tech has been a bit slow and perhaps too pricey for just mowing your grass; they are a few Li-Ion but slow to market.

I recently saw a cordless electric snowblower that has a 40V Lithium-Ion battery (Snow-Joe) that looked interesting ... once my 10+ year old Honda gas powered one dies this may be the one I try; just like with the cordless mower, probably would need to make sure the stuff wasn't too deep but otherwise appears to be of a similar size as my Honda is:

http://www.snowjoe.com/product/Snow...Volt-Lithium-Ion-Battery-iON18SB#.VPoHcOHG964

Perhaps we'll see some incentives on 'retiring' gas mowers as I'm sure everyone has seen and 'smelled' some way past their prime ... my snowblower is in a great state of tune but once its starts burning oil, etc. it will be replaced hopefully with a Li-Ion like this Snow-Joe
 
Reviews of the Snow Joe, which I looked int last Fall, indicate that it is good for powdery snow only. I'd like to see people start to convert their gas snowblowers (I have a 20+ year old Murray) to corded/cordless units that use LiFePO batteries for wheel propulsion, and recharge them on the fly when stopped. The blower would be driven by 1800 watts from the cord.
 
Had an early model EM 4.1 from Neuton (Spring 2003). We used it happily for several years, although I was disappointed ultimately in it's durability (both battery and plastic frame).

Although this may not be what you're looking for, there was a series of electric lawn tractors made between 1969 and 1983 by GE, Wheel Horse and Avco New Idea. Often you can either restore or rebuild them as it's (usually) very simplistic switch, relay and contactor technology run by 36 VDC using 6V lead-acid golf cart batteries. In addition to the mower deck, they also made a variety of power attachments and tools such as roto-tillers, brooms and snowblowers.

We've been using an EGT-120 for several years now and it's amazing to see how durable these electrically driven mowers are. I can only hope our Leaf is around this long!

http://www.myelec-traks.com/index.html

 
redLEAF said:
I've had an Earthwise 60120 24V cordless electric push mower since '09. We bought a spare battery for it when new (lead-acid) and alternate them and they're still going strong enough to mow between 1/4 and 1/3 acre lawn on a single charge but sometimes need 1 1/2. Towards the end of last mowing season (I'm in the Midwest), the lower handle broke on it and almost recycled the mower but was able to find a replacement for $20 including shipping so am all good for another season or so. I was hoping to see some newer battery tech besides the lead-acid as well as perhaps a decent self-propelled electric (despite most of the area being 'flat' out this way we do have a few hilly sections where it could help) but the tech has been a bit slow and perhaps too pricey for just mowing your grass; they are a few Li-Ion but slow to market.
<snip>
At the moment, electric riding lawnmowers remain pricey, albeit most aren't this pricey - https://electrek.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/screenshot-2014-01-26-16-39-44.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
redLEAF said:
Perhaps we'll see some incentives on 'retiring' gas mowers as I'm sure everyone has seen and 'smelled' some way past their prime ... my snowblower is in a great state of tune but once its starts burning oil, etc. it will be replaced hopefully with a Li-Ion like this Snow-Joe

I wouldn't be surprised. The emissions from a mower are horrific.
 
I've always used full synthetic oil in my snowblower, but even though I always run the carb dry, the first one gummed up, and I'd forgotten how terribly cold-blooded the factory carb is when new. They must have adjusted them for factory floor temps, before sealing the adjustment screw with slag. Anyway, it doesn't use any oil to speak of, it just smells terrible. I'd wait for the next gen Snow Joe, though, and even then I'd expect to replace the tiny lithium pack with a much larger one.

Oh, yeah: we also have a Black & Decker 1800 watt corded mini snowblower, and that works well in anything except extremely deep or wet snow. Pushing it can be a real workout, though. Still, if you can use a cord, it is much, much, much more powerful than the Snow Joe.
 
I converted my Black and Decker CMM1000 cordless from lead-acid to LiFePO4 in May, 2009. The mower runs better, is easier to handle (from 30 lbs of sealed lead acid to 8 lbs of lithium), and so far this battery's lasted almost three times longer than either of the first two pairs of SLA. The first mowing of the 2015 season will happen this week and the mower's ready to go with only a blade sharpening and top-off charge.

mower.jpg


I can also recommend the Ryobi brushless 40V chainsaw (RY40511). It kept up with a gas saw while processing a hickory tree knocked down by a storm. Each battery charge lasted a bit longer than 30 minutes of cutting time in this very hard wood, and two batteries gave me the same 'work/rest' time as the guy running the Stihl.
 
I've used a corded electric mower for almost 4 years. It's great. I probably saved the cost of the mower in gas alone. It costs under 10 cents per month in electricity to use during growing season. Some of my less enlightened neighbors have offered to lend me their "real" mowers. My grass gets cut easily with my own mower--no idea why they can't see that.
 
Back
Top