Electric Lawn Mowers

        Electric mowers are gaining both prowess and popularity in today’s lawn care marketplace. For a smaller yard or garden, gas-powered lawn mowers not only pollute up to tens times more than a modern car, but they are inconvenient to start and are loud. For bigger yards (greater than ½ acre or 120-square meters), nothing will do the job as thoroughly as a gas-powered riding mower. Perhaps with the advent of hybrid technology, as seen in today’s car market, lawn mower manufacturer’s might already be thinking about those possibilities.

    There are two types of electric mowers. One of these connects to a power source using a cord, which plugs into an outlet and another that runs on charged battery power. It’s recommended to use a machine with a cord only if you have a small area to mow. While you should be quite careful not to mow over the power cord, most new models will have an automatic kill switch. Most companies also recommend using a protective outlet with automatic cutoff (sometimes called a RCD) should there be a chance of shock due to mowing over the cord or running the machine in wet conditions. Mower manufacturers are leaning more towards the production of long-lasting and strong, battery-powered cordless models.

    Many benefits exist for using an electric mower. Cheap to maintain and run, the machines maximize electricity use; costing about .03 cents each time you mow. Plus, no oil changes mean big savings; additionally no tune-ups and no praying that the mower will start before your yard looks like a jungle. Electric models use push-button starting, which is plain convenient.

    Again, electric mowers are not yet perfectly designed. Some newer models, often referred to as robot-mowers can follow an underground track, returning to their charging station when needed (when needing a charge, in bad weather or before overheating), which can literally mow the yard each day, unsupervised if you have no children or small pets, as you go about your own business.

    As electric and battery-powered mowers become more readily available, and as the demand for cleaner, more efficient power sources rise, don’t be surprised to see many more of these machines in the near future. While they cannot match a gas-powered mower in power or running time, electric machines do the job and outlast cheaper gas push-models year after year, especially for those of us with smaller yards or gardens, who want a nice trim without all the hassle.