From the people who gave you "test drive of a petrol car": We BEV-d a gas station :biggrin: Last Saturday suddenly a dozen electric cars -silently!- appeared out of nowhere and occupied all available pumps at a gas station in Stockholm, Sweden. Read the whole story at BEV-ing a gas station - Tesla Club Sweden
Seems silly to me. Two wrongs don't make a right but I note you only stayed for the picture so no real harm done to someone needing to get gas and get home. This part gave me a good laugh: "Several of us has not been at a gas station for a while now and were quite shocked by the oil stains, the smell and dirt – you don’t really notice it when you are a frequent visitor. As one put it: ”people buy and eat hot-dogs in this environment?” " If you're eating hot-dogs, I doubt you have any concern about the oil stains, smell and dirt contaminating your meal.
Worth noting that they only stayed a few minutes, so they didn't really bother anybody. But it looks cool
Nice. And only staying for the picture was a nice idea. I've had to go back to gas stations a few times...and yes, they smell, are dirty, etc.
In 20+ years of doing my yard work, I have never owned gas powered lawn equipment. All of my mowers, trimmers, blowers, tillers, chainsaws, etc. have used batteries or had a cord.
I actually do. Cordless electric mower and trimmer, but corded snowblower. It works about as well as the smallest gas powered snowblowers which is to say not bad for my purposes. - - - Updated - - - I go in the winter for the car wash. I actually feel kinda weird and self-conscious whenever I do...
Awesome, what models/manufactures. I have tried WORXGT, Kobalt and B&D and now of them had the power, durability and features I need. My son (in the USAF) just bought his first home and needs yard tools. He loves our Volt and asked about buying battery powered yard tools. Since he deploys and his wife needs to care for the house he wants a self propelled mulching mower that can take care of a 1/4 acre lot. Thanks for your advice in advance.
I am in the market for a new electric mower to replace my ageing Honda and will probably end up with an eGo. It is not self propelled but is the closest I have found that would fit your criteria. EGO Power+ - Power Beyond Belief
Check out STIHL. They just released a line of lithium ion battery powered equipment. Lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, etc.
model S is a flex fuel vehicle: When there's a 70 HP commercial electric tractor available with full hydraulics and PTO for the same TCO I can buy a diesel tractor, I'll be there. When there's an electric lawnmower that can fully cut 7-8 acres before the other end of the yard gets too long again, I'll be there too. Until then, the orchard requires more traditional equipment.
This is what I have. LB85EL-LawnBott And I love it. Only need to trim around the house every other week. The lawn is always perfectly mowed.
John Deere is releasing a battery powered riding lawn mowers. It would suit my needs for cutting 1.5 acres. Not sure if it would do 8 acres yet.
Lawnmowers have been a bit of a struggle for me. I started off in around 2006 with a store brand cordless lawnmower with an internal lead-acid battery. After about 2 or 3 years, I could not cut my whole lawn on a charge and it ended up being a 2-day job because of a 6 or 8 hour charge cycle. I ended up taking that mower to a townhouse I own and gave it to the tenants. It was fine on the much smaller lawn. Then I bought a Ryobi self-propelled cordless mower in around 2010 that uses removable lead-acid batteries. I think that mower is now out of production. It was a very heavy mower (due to the battery which is similar in size and weight to a car battery). It's battery got weak, so I ordered a spare (which alone cost as much as a cheap gas lawnmower!). The second battery got weak and so... A couple of weeks ago I bought an EGO Li Ion mower. I still can't get my whole lawn cut on a charge, but it has a 1/2 hour charger that at least means my neighbors don't think I'm nuts with a half cut lawn overnight. I can pick up a spare Li Ion battery for it for about $200 (again, the price of an entire cheap gas mower). I have a store-brand weed wacker with removable Ni-MH battery. No problems with this device. And finally, I have a Snow Joe corded snow blower. They now have Li Ion cordless models as well. Aside from a broken drive belt, it's been fine for 4 or 5 winters as well.
I'd love a Roomba-style electric mower that could do the job by itself. Even if it took 3-4 days, I'd be fine with it as long as it was smart enough to go back to its charging station and continue the next day. I suspect, though, that even the best proofs of concept couldn't handle 8 acres.
Uh oh Flasher - looks like my bad habits have started spreading. Bad bad bad. My record, though, is 70 gallons diesel in the S. Which I HOPE no one ever tries to exceed!!!!!!!!