Going electric is becoming much more compelling

Over the last 25 years gas prices have almost tripled in the US, far outstripping the increase in electricity prices. On average gas prices have gone up about 6% a year, compared to the price of electricity which increased 2.8% a year.

The implication of this long term trend is that the cost of operating a gas mower is growing at more than double the rate of operating an electric mower. For example, in the state of Texas which has the lowest gas costs in the US and therefore should be the most attractive for gas mowers, you would save about $500 a year in fuel costs by switching to 22” electric push mower. These savings jump to over $1,000 a year if you’re in California, the state with the most expensive gas.

Over the past 10 years, battery prices have dropped over 90%. And here is the most interesting part of this trend: most experts think they will drop another 40% in the next three years. Batteries are affordable, and soon they will become really cheap.

Some people will think that this means they should wait to buy an electric mower: we disagree, we think that you should buy the mower now, and when you need to buy a replacement battery, it will likely cost a fraction of what it is today.

What do the long term gas, electricity and battery price trends mean for a business decision today? We built a detailed model to help you analyze the total cost of ownership, which includes the upfront cost of the mower (including extra batteries), as well as operations and maintenance. The model includes:

• The price for electric and gas powered mowers
  Note: we wanted to make an apples to apples comparison of the runtime of an electric and a gas mower. So if we found that the amount of mowing was more than the capacity of a mower, we factored in the cost of buying extra batteries.
• Amount of gas or electricity a gas / electric 22” mower consumes
• The price of gas and the cost of electricity
• The cost of maintenance for electric vs gas mowers

Other details in our model include things like the runtime of the batteries, how many properties a typical landscaper is mowing in a day, the cost of extra batteries needed if the runtime is less than what a typical landscaper would use, the rate of inflation and amongst others.

In the first year of ownership, it is cheaper to run a gas powered push mower in states with cheap gas like Texas. This is because the savings from using electricity do not have enough time to offset the higher cost of buying an electric mower. However, in California where gas prices are double those of Texas, it is cheaper to run an electric push mower even in the first year of ownership.

However, by the time you look at the 3 year total cost of ownership, it is significantly cheaper to run an electric mower versus a gas mower, in every state. In a place like Texas you are saving over $1,200, and in California that jumps to over $4,000 in savings by going electric!

This analysis was for self-propelled 22” mowers, the kind used by folks who mainly do residential and small commercial work. The conclusions hold up for 30” mowers.

However once you get to zero turn, or large commercial grade mowers, the numbers no longer support electric mowers. Unlike push behind mowers, carrying spare battery packs for these mowers is not realistic and cost efficient, plus the energy required to propel the mower and cut the grass renders these uneconomical for the time being. However with continued improvements in technology, lowering of costs, and the continued increase in gas prices this may change in the next 5 years.