Six years ago, we bought an EGO Power Plus electric lawn mower, powered by a lithium ion battery pack, followed shortly later by the EGO line trimmer and leaf blower. The previous November, we had purchased our new, more efficient home and, for the first time in at least 23 years, I was going to do the mowing. Our previous homes’ lots were so large and the landscaping so involved, that I had hired out our lawn care.
This Spring, when I was ready for the first mow of the new season, I could not get the lawnmower battery to charge. When I inserted the battery, into its charger, the charger turned on and appeared to be charging the battery, but the indicator lights never got above the flashing 25% light. It would run for about 45 minutes and then shut down. I wasn’t sure, but I thought the battery may have died.
I checked the EGO website’s support area and the user forum and the feedback I received was that it sounded like a dead battery. Several potential remedies were suggested, by other EGO customers, such as putting the battery in the refrigerator overnight, trying a different charger (the line trimmer came with a smaller battery and a charger) and dropping the battery onto the floor from about 12 inches above.
I checked the EGO website for new battery pricing and the 4.0 amp-hour battery that came with my mower was no longer available. It had been replaced by a more powerful 5.0 amp-hour battery and its cost was $249. I originally paid $500 for the mower and battery, so this was a bit of a shock (pun intended) for me!
*gulp!*
Due to the cost, I wanted to make sure the problem was the battery and not the charger, so I called EGO’s tech support number. A very nice gentleman laughed, when I told him about the suggestion of dropping the battery. He said, “No, let’s not do that.” He reiterated the advice on trying the smaller charger, saying that it might be able to “reset” the battery and get it charging normally again. I tried this and the smaller charger just made clicking sounds, which he told me was it trying to reset the battery. When this failed to charge the battery, he told me that my battery was probably dead and needed to be replaced. That original battery had a 3 year warranty and I had made it 6 years with no issues. Then he mentioned something I hadn’t thought about: the line trimmer battery could be used to power the mower. I should have thought of that, but it had not occurred to me, as the line trimmer’s battery has a smaller form factor. I inserted the line trimmer’s battery into the lawnmower and it worked. Of course, being a smaller battery, it couldn’t make it through my entire mow without being recharged, so I stop for a 15 minute break between mowing the front yard and the back yard, to recharge. For now, I thought this would suffice, as I had recently retired and wanted to minimize expenditures.
However, I knew I’d want a battery that didn’t have to be recharged between mowing the front and back yards, so I realized the line trimmer battery was going to be a short-term solution.
This got me thinking about comparing the cost of gasoline vs. electricity mowing costs, including the cost of replacing the battery at the end of its life. Once again, it was SPREADSHEET TIME!
I was going to have to make an assumption, about how much gasoline would be used to mow our yard, since I had never done that before. I searched the web for an estimate and found that a 1/2 acre lot required about 2/3 gallons of gas, for a non-propelled mower. Since my lot is only 1/4 acre, I decided to use 1/3 gallons, as the estimate.
(your mileage may vary)
I’d love to hear from you about your gasoline usage for mowing, so I can verify if this assumption is correct. If you want to help, enter a comment with your lot size and amount of gasoline you use per mowing session.
Here’s the spreadsheet I created to do the comparison:
The yellow fields are inputs. The red cells are the cost differences. If the cell is red, electric mowing (including replacing the battery with a new one) is more expensive. If green, electric mowing is less expensive. As you can see, electric mowing is more expensive, in my specific case, by 55¢ each time I mow. The spreadsheet assumes mowing once a week, once mowing season starts. It also assumes 4.0 amp-hours per mow, since that’s what I’ve been experiencing. To convert amp-hours to kWh, I found an online calculator here. I got the cost of gasoline from the spreadsheet I used to track EV adoption rates, because it showed monthly average gasoline prices, in the U.S., going back to December 2010. I used the monthly average, beginning with April 2014, because that’s when I started mowing the lawn with the EGO mower.
In the version shown below, the only changed input is the lot size. At 0.45 acres, you’re a little better than break-even, when comparing electricity to gasoline.
If you’d like a copy of the spreadsheet, you can download it here:
One concern I have is that I wonder if recharging my battery in a garage, during the hot Texas Summer, could have shortened the battery’s life. Just in case, I have moved the chargers into the air conditioned part of the house to see if this makes a difference. Come back in 6 years to find out…
In summary, do I regret buying the EGO mower? ABSOLUTELY NOT! In fact, the peace of mind that comes from not smelling mower exhaust, ferrying gasoline cans to and from a gas station and not having to store a flammable liquid, in my garage, where two natural gas-powered water heaters are located is easily worth more to me than 55¢ each time I mow! I love that it starts easily, without having to pull the rope handle of a gas-powered mower. I love that it is so quiet that I can mow early in the morning before the heat of Texas’ Summers gets cranked up. I love that it has headlights, allowing my to see what I’m doing in the morning, or if I decide to mow after sundown. And you know me, I love that it’s great for the environment. I’m just as pleased with my purchase as I was when Charles and I shot this video review, 6 years ago.
R.I.P., old battery.
Long live New Battery!
