Using a gas-powered lawnmower has never been a good fit. There's the noise, the weight, the pollution, and the maintenance, particularly the chore of draining the gas every winter and changing the oil--neither of which got done. Deep down, I really didn't want to attend to the machine's petroleum-based plumbing needs, nor worry over the condition of its sparkplug, and so each year the mower ran less smoothly and became more difficult to start.
After decades of dealing with these annoyances, I turned a corner one day in our little section of suburbia and saw an electric lawnmower put out on the curb by a neighbor, free for the taking. It turned out to be in working order, and its advantages became immediately clear. It was quieter, turned instantly on or off, and was easily strong enough to cut even thick, tall grass. Though it needed a cord, it was much lighter and very easy to manipulate. After that first mowing of the backyard with an electric mower, I sat down in one of our rarely used lawn chairs, and gazed out upon the cleanly cropped perfection with an unaccustomed sense of satisfaction. A new era in lawn maintenance had begun.
The next year, during another around-the-block jaunt with the dog, I acquired a battery powered model being sold for $40 at a yardsale. The battery adds weight, but provides plenty of power and brings relief from the vigilance needed to avoid running over a power cord.
In one small corner of life, the end of the internal combustion era has come. An empty gas can molders in the carport, likely never to be refilled.
For anyone curious about how much it costs to charge a lawnmower battery, this one took 0.47 kilowatt hours--roughly 8 cents.
("Kill-a-Watt meters are available for borrowing at the Princeton Public Library)
1 comment:
We love our battery mower. That said, it isn't so sturdy. Here is Mark's blog on fixing it: http://markselectricmower.blogspot.com/ and some repairs have been done twice.
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