Replacing Oil with Batteries - the Small Stuff

[Bob Wallace]

Amazon is selling a battery powered lawnmower for $101 with free shipping.  (Limited to Prime members, those who pay an annual membership fee.)

The Sun Joe cuts a 14" swath and has enough battery for about 25 minutes of cutting.  It's pretty light (<30 pounds).  All that should make it a great option for those who have small yards. 

[numerobis]

Electric lawnmowers and weedwhackers are nothing new -- but it was annoying being one indiscretion away from chopping your power cord. Battery-powered ones are presumably a great improvement over corded ones (they're nothing new either, but batteries sucked until recently).

Also an improvement over the nuisance of filling up your jerry-can, spilling gasoline all over the place when filling up the lawnmower, and desperately yanking on that starter pull cord in hopes that this won't be the time that you finally really need to take the machine apart and oil it properly. That annoyance was already pretty much on par with electric cords.

Then again, I'm pretty partial to just not having a lawn to mow, circumventing the problem entirely.

[Bob Wallace]

This was the first battery powered lawnmower that I've seen that was really affordable.

I'm holding out for Makita to drop their price.  Their mowers use removable batteries so I could battery share with my other Makita stuff (drill, sawzall, weedwhacker).

[numerobis]

Hopefully all those silly leaf blowers can go electric. Still just an instrument to push your trash onto your neighbour's lawn, but at least it doesn't also fumigate the entire neighbourhood (and it's probably a bit less noisy).

[rboyd]

Or a human-powered rake, the exercise will help the human stay healthy!

[Neven]

Speaking of which, I'm quite satisfied with my Makita EV lawnmower (I promised to report). It seems a bit less strong than it was at first, but maybe that's because it's been raining a lot over here, causing the grass to grow a bit too high.

But there are a lot less stalls compared to the corded Makita I had before (because of grass getting stuck). It's much lighter, I can easily carry it. And it's made of plastic which makes it easier to clean. The corded Makita was made out of painted metal, with of course the metal wearing off (getting who knows where).

Downside is range, meaning I have to stop and wait for the batteries to get charged again. Buying an extra set of batteries is a bit too expensive for me right now. And the thing in the back that catches the grass, fills up halfway and then things get clogged, so I have to move the grass back in order to fill it up completely.

But all in all I'm very satisfied, and I just hope the EV lawnmower does its job for at least 3 years. Maybe next year I'll buy an extra set of batteries. It'd be cool if I could also use those batteries for an E-bike or something (Makita has one, but it's a bit small).

PS Makita also has a battery-powered leaf blower, numerobis.

[12Patrick]

Looks like the new silicon batteries will replace the oil much faster than the lithium ion batteries if they start mass producing them now...

[Sebastian Jones]

I recently bought an 80V cordless chainsaw.
It is silent.
It has similar power to a 45cc gas powered saw.
The battery lasts about the same as a tank of gas.
It takes  a half hour to recharge.
Unfortunately, the fast chafer requires more oomph than my PV system is capable of, so I need to run the generator to charge it. Which, even were it only charging the chain saw, is way more efficient than running a gas saw.
It feels and sounds like a toy however, which makes me nervous as it clearly is a powerful and deadly tool.

[sidd]

Who make this chainsaw ? I want one, and half a dozen batteries.

Agreed that a chainsaw is dangerous. Kevlar clothing helps mitigate.

[numerobis]

New sequel: The Texas Silent Chainsaw Massacre.

Which leads to musing: if Hollywood had its stars using electric everything, I bet that would speed up adoption. I've got links to the 3D animation industry but more on the tech side -- not so much the art side. Live action is where it's at though; how do we get Hollywood on that?

[TerryM]

New sequel: The Texas Silent Chainsaw Massacre.

Which leads to musing: if Hollywood had its stars using electric everything, I bet that would speed up adoption. I've got links to the 3D animation industry but more on the tech side -- not so much the art side. Live action is where it's at though; how do we get Hollywood on that?

A very good suggestion. I have some contact with Canadian TV and film staff. While I doubt that these people have the necessary influence, they might be able to start the needed buzz.


Terry

[Sigmetnow]

Speaking of which, I'm quite satisfied with my Makita EV lawnmower (I promised to report). It seems a bit less strong than it was at first, but maybe that's because it's been raining a lot over here, causing the grass to grow a bit too high.

But there are a lot less stalls compared to the corded Makita I had before (because of grass getting stuck). It's much lighter, I can easily carry it. And it's made of plastic which makes it easier to clean. The corded Makita was made out of painted metal, with of course the metal wearing off (getting who knows where).

Downside is range, meaning I have to stop and wait for the batteries to get charged again. Buying an extra set of batteries is a bit too expensive for me right now. And the thing in the back that catches the grass, fills up halfway and then things get clogged, so I have to move the grass back in order to fill it up completely.

But all in all I'm very satisfied, and I just hope the EV lawnmower does its job for at least 3 years. Maybe next year I'll buy an extra set of batteries. It'd be cool if I could also use those batteries for an E-bike or something (Makita has one, but it's a bit small).

PS Makita also has a battery-powered leaf blower, numerobis.

My 16-inch Sun Joe mower is holding up well, also, although the older batteries have lost some range.   
I, too, have noticed better results by mowing a little more often, before the grass gets too tall/thick.  (I hate the grass-catcher attachment, though, so I prop open the back flap a bit and let it spit out the grass wherever. )

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IP1MG2Q/ref=asc_df_B00IP1MG2Q5075252/

[ghoti]

I have to ask - Why would you collect gas clippings in a bag? Are you desperate to remove nutrients from the lawn?

[Neven]

Well, the lawn never had a lot of nutrients to begin with (as it used to be a corn field), but I use the clippings as mulch around bushes and trees. But not every time. Like Sigmetnow, I also use a stick to keep the back flip open.

And on around half of the mowing area I just let things grow and only mow twice with scythe.

[etienne]

Good to know that all these develpments exists. Here in the village, I think that I am the only one using electricity for garden machines, but still with a cable, and people where looking sometimes like if I was working with toys. I love it mainly for maintenance issue. When I moved 3 years ago, I bought the biggest Makita electrical lawnmower, it was quite difficult to find at that time, but since last year, you can find it almost everywhere.

[Sigmetnow]

How bad for the environment are gas-powered leaf blowers?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-bad-for-the-environment-are-gas-powered-leaf-blowers/2013/09/16/8eed7b9a-18bb-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html

“A consumer-grade leaf blower emits more pollutants than a 6,200-pound 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, according to tests conducted by Edmunds'...”
https://www.edmunds.com/about/press/leaf-blowers-emissions-dirtier-than-high-performance-pick-up-trucks-says-edmunds-insidelinecom.html

(H/t to “Talking Tesla” podcast episode #93.   http://www.talkingtesla.net/show-notes/model-3-has-arrived )

[Bob Wallace]

How bad for the environment are gas-powered leaf blowers?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-bad-for-the-environment-are-gas-powered-leaf-blowers/2013/09/16/8eed7b9a-18bb-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html

“A consumer-grade leaf blower emits more pollutants than a 6,200-pound 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, according to tests conducted by Edmunds'...”
https://www.edmunds.com/about/press/leaf-blowers-emissions-dirtier-than-high-performance-pick-up-trucks-says-edmunds-insidelinecom.html

(H/t to “Talking Tesla” podcast episode #93.   http://www.talkingtesla.net/show-notes/model-3-has-arrived )

Yes, but compare based on annual hours of operation.

I'm not advocating the use of fueled leaf blowers.  Just good science.

What I would advocate for is battery powered leaf vacs connected to shredders/hoppers.  Just quietly suck them up and turn them to mulch.

[TerryM]

The 2012 tests were a reaction to Obama's proposed laws to clean up the air. The Edmonds article further claims that running ambient air through a Ford pick-up's engine will remove hydrocarbons, and clean the air.
Simply not credible. I'd write more but very time I try to copy a paragraph my size function goes crazy.
Terry

[numerobis]

Fossil-fueled lawn tools don't have any pollution controls, and pretty much can't. That's why we should get rid of them ASAP. Which was decades ago; we're just a little behind the curve on this one.

[Bob Wallace]

Fossil-fueled lawn tools don't have any pollution controls, and pretty much can't. That's why we should get rid of them ASAP. Which was decades ago; we're just a little behind the curve on this one.

California has put some limits on small internal combustion engines.  If you're looking at lawnmowers, etc. online you'll see "CARB compliant" or "Not CARB compliant".  Or can't be shipped to California.

[Sigmetnow]

I have to ask - Why would you collect gas clippings in a bag? Are you desperate to remove nutrients from the lawn?

I think the main reason these mowers come with a grass clippings bag is so you stop every 10 minutes or so and give the battery a break, to maximize power output.  Sun Joe notes that the battery's level of charge indicator may increase after it has rested for a few minutes.

Which is fine; even without the grass catcher, it gives me an excuse to stop and rehydrate every few minutes; a good idea in the heat.