Lawn mower

Honda today launched its first prototype battery-powered electric autonomous zero-turn riding mower (yes, it actually drives itself).

There’s no form of wheeled transport, whether for recreation or utility use, that is safe from the sweeping wave of electrification. Those maintenance-prone, expensive and carcinogen-spewing combustion engines are on their way out in nearly every industry, not the least of which includes lawn-care. The only problem is that the larger and fancier zero-turn electric lawn mowers are usually pretty pricey when they go electric, at least until now.

John Deere is a company of many firsts, but the brand’s latest product, the Z370R Electric ZTrak Residential Zero Turn mower, may actually have you wanting to cut the grass.

The fully electric zero-turn mower, an industry-first, according to John Deere, upgrades the mowing experience while freeing you from gasoline.

Fresh off the heels of a ban on billing-per-minute for electric vehicle charging, California is turning its sights to a ban of gas-powered lawn devices, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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I’ve used Greenworks lineup of 40V then 80V line of lawn equipment to take care of my acre of grass (and driveway in the winter) for over 5 years. Overwhelmingly, the experience has been positive with clean, quiet, vibration-free battery power really taking the edge off of lawn maintenance. If you are used to gas mowers, do yourself a favor and try an electric mower –– environment aside, it feels like pushing around a box fan compared to a loud, vibrating, smoke belching, antique.

When we learned Greenworks were launching a commercial lineup of Zero Turn Lithium mowers to compete with Mean Green Mowers and more importantly compete with the awful machines that commercial lawn care companies use, we had to take a look…
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I like the idea of doing lawn work. Through all of the sweat and heat, there’s a deep sense of satisfaction once the job is completed. I think I enjoy it primarily because it’s the antithesis of my daily routine as a tech blogger.

Sadly, there are some things that make it hard to enjoy the traditional lawn care routine. The putrid smell of gasoline, the allergies, dealing with mowers that won’t start, the deafening noise, the numbing vibrations of the handle, running out of gas, etc.

The very idea of an alternative-powered lawn mower always appealed to me, but their shortcomings were too much for me to seriously consider one…until now.
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Today, I updated much of my lawn equipment to electric and not just because it is better for the environment – there are tons of reasons well, 11 listed below, to make the move. Until recently, electric lawnmowers, chainsaws, edgers, snowblowers, etc weren’t’ as powerful as their gas counterparts. However, with Greenworks and others making the jump to 80V products, the high end of electric lawn tools now compete well on power with standard gasoline-powered competitors.

I have Greenworks products (40V Mower/chainsaw, corded snowblower) that work well, but I’ve not tried or used the 80V products I purchased today.  These are way more hardcore:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLVZPjIRRZk

So if they are roughly equivalent to the power of gas, and often cheaper, what other advantages can you expect to see?
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