My electric lawn mower vs my gas one after 3 years of testing

I see a lot of people in this group pushing for everyone to switch to electric mowers right now. But after using both on my quarter acre yard in Austin for 3 years, I think gas still wins for bigger lawns. My electric mower worked fine for the first year, but by year 2 the battery took 8 hours to charge and only gave me 20 minutes of runtime. Meanwhile my gas mower from 2015 still cuts the whole lawn on one tank in about 45 minutes. The electric one also cost me $200 to replace the battery last spring. Has anyone else tried running an electric mower on a yard over half an acre and stuck with it?

2 comments

2 Comments

martin.jamie1mo ago

Man that's exactly what I've been dealing with too. My Ryobi electric mower started crapping out after about 18 months and now I'm lucky to get 15 minutes out of a full charge. The battery replacement cost me almost as much as a new mower and honestly I just got tired of having to plan my mowing around when I could recharge both batteries at the same time. My neighbor's old Craftsman gas mower from like 2008 still runs like a champ and he doesn't have to think about it at all. I tried the electric thing for a couple years but for me gas just makes more sense when you've got a yard that actually takes some time to cut.

the_richard1mo ago

So you're telling me your electric mower gave up faster than my New Year's resolutions? That's brutal. I've got a buddy who went all in on electric for his half acre and now he keeps a second battery on a trickle charger just to finish the job. Sounds like a great system if you enjoy planning your mowing schedule around charging times like it's a NASA launch window. Meanwhile my old gas mower just sits there, always ready to go, like a dependable dog that doesn't need a nap every 20 minutes.