Electric mowers

[farmerjan]

Anyone have one? I am thinking about a ride on one to replace the old bolens I have. It always has problems with running and my son refuses to work on it. I don't want a zero turn because I want to be able to pull a cart and other stuff behind it. I am NO MECHANIC... and tired of all the stuff that needs to be maintained; belts, oil, gas, spark plug all that. I am NOT DOING THIS because of the green new deal CRAP...... I have a battery weedeater and it does good for me... Easy and simple.
I know that a "normal" riding mower is in the 2-3,000 range and found a "Cub Cadet " that is battery for around 3,000 so comparable pricewise.
This is not a have to purchase, and I could find a decent used gas motor type one for 4-500.... but we are back to the whole engine thing.

Any thoughts, advice???

 

[JW IN VA]

One of the first things I would check is how expensive a replacement battery would be. You are still going to have to work on belts, blades, bearings and tires.
Not saying you are wrong in looking at one but all of them have some of the same maintaining.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Every thing has its own set of problems. Not a bad idea though.
What about some grass powered mowers?

 

[farmerjan]

The grass powered ones won't stay out of the flowers. There is no fence, so need to build one, and then I would have to open gates to go in and out all the time since the house is fairly close to the road. Believe me, I plan to use some of them as soon as the fence gets put up around the rest of the property, the fruit trees and garden and all. Then section them off... might raise a few calves... we always have a couple of calves, that have trouble seeing that small paddocks work good for. Son has some white Texas Dall sheep I can "use" but they gotta have pretty perfect fences....

 

[bbirder]

Hey Farmerjan,
What model is your Bolens? I'm a big fan of those machines, They don't make workhorses like those any longer. You might want to investigate those electrics thoroughly before buying. I don't see them having the power to do the extra things like towing that you would be happy with.

 

[wbvs58]

Jan, you don't have to worry about power to do what you want with the electric, they have heaps and they will go for quite a bit before needing a charge. My neighbour has a Ryobi zero turn and does a fair size yard with it at least an acre on the side of a hill without needing to charge it. I think a lot of belts are eliminated with it as they have a lot of direct drive in them. He is wrapped in it, just jumps on it and goes, that is if he can beat his wife Sal to it.

Ken

 

[Redgully]

I think electric is the way to go where possible. 90% my tools are battery powered now. Brother in law has an electric mower, they're quiet and powerful and so easy to use. The only thing is they are pretty much throw away machines as the batteries can cost more than a whole new machine but if lithium should last a long time. Battery forklifts are incredible, so quiet and efficient, actually too quiet which could be dangerous. We used to do our pruning with air powered secateurs but these newer battery ones are brilliant, one small battery lasts all day and are very powerful, probably more so than the air powered ones.

 

[callmefence]

Used to have acre and a half of a yard. I tore the fence out and rebuilt 25' off the house. Used electric push since. First a plug in now battery powered Milwaukee push mower and weed eater. The batteries cross over with my tools.One thing you don't need to worry about with electric is power.

 

[Brute 23]

Why can't you pull a cart with a zero turn?

I pull carts, sprayers, etc all the time with them.

 

[JW IN VA]

Leave the yard fence unfixed. Works for me

Sort of

 

[Ky hills]

Every thing has its own set of problems. Not a bad idea though.
What about some grass powered mowers?View attachment 21526

Not a baaad idea.

 

[greybeard]

Not a rider or zero turn but I have a battery powered walk behind.
I cannot recommend it if you have any kind of slope to the area you want mowed.

Plenty of power for the blades and for the wheels but it's too dang light and wants to slip down the hill if mowing transverse across the slope.

Would probably be great on flat land.
56Volt. Battery lasts about an hour depending how much uphill mowing is done in self propelled mode.

 

[farmerjan]

Why can't you pull a cart with a zero turn?

I pull carts, sprayers, etc all the time with them.

I had no idea that they could pull stuff... Never been on one or really very close to one. I pull the lawn sweeper behind the old bolens and a cart that dumps and a smaller wagon type cart with this one to clean up things. Maybe I am scared of them since everyone I see riding them is going 200 miles an hour... They kinda scare me and they seem so big. And I have never seen them do anything but mowing.
The ones I have seen are also about twice the cost of the other garden tractor type... so I never really considered them. I have seen the Ryobi one at Lowe's(?) I think.

Mostly flattish ground here, not any slope or hills... a little bit, not perfectly flat. I am not comfortable on slopes with the little tractor now so that is not a consideration. Ever since the bad car wreck years ago, I am not comfortable on hillsides and slopes with any of the tractors... especially not going across them. Up and down is not too bad. But I have such a slight incline here as to be something like 1/12... nearly flat slight decline type thing, less than most shed roofs that come out off a barn.

Yeah, there seems to be direct drive to the blades from the pictures I have seen... no belts in any of the pictures. It is 56 volts and is a lithium battery it says.
It is a Cub Cadet XT1 LT42E..... I don't know more than what I have read. 3 yr warranty on machine and 4 yr warranty on the battery.

 

[Brute 23]

You you can do all that on a zero turn. Pretty hard to roll over. Low center of gravity and weight forward.