Is AB-1346 The Beginning To The End Of The GARDEN TRACTOR?

[DonaldP]

I was getting my mower repaired a little bit ago, it was at one of the busiest small engine repair places in my area, the one commercial landscapers around here send their equipment to. So I was talking to the guys at the service desk over there, mentioned this CA small engine thing and how it will effect commercial landscapers, was really surprised by the response!

Here's an example of how this would affect commercial landscapers:

Quiet, and no hot engine/exhaust to deal with.

Meanwhile, this was me mulching leaves yesterday with my Bradley stander mower:

Could everything be totally dependent on RPM?

 

[LouNY]

You all just jump right on that stuff.
I'm sticking with my 2 strokes till they pry them from my cold stiff fingers also.
Big brother can kiss my posterior.
Electrics will never in my lifetime provide the quality or quantity of work required
much of the time.
Do I have cordless drills and drivers yes, but I also have my heavy 3/4" right angle drill motor
and a standard ol 1/2" for backup and hard work.
My cordless impact is very nice but at times the pneumatic wrenches need to come out.
I'm even considering a cordless chainsaw for quick small storm clean up.
But electric can not at this time replace internal combustion when the work is long or heavy.

 

[GeneV]

Omg!!! This is great!!!

Cost?

Well, considering a gas Grandstand runs around $9k, I imagine the new electric ones are gonna be double that, easy. For now.

 

[GeneV]

You all just jump right on that stuff.
I'm sticking with my 2 strokes till they pry them from my cold stiff fingers also.
Big brother can kiss my posterior.
Electrics will never in my lifetime provide the quality or quantity of work required
much of the time.
Do I have cordless drills and drivers yes, but I also have my heavy 3/4" right angle drill motor
and a standard ol 1/2" for backup and hard work.
My cordless impact is very nice but at times the pneumatic wrenches need to come out.
I'm even considering a cordless chainsaw for quick small storm clean up.
But electric can not at this time replace internal combustion when the work is long or heavy.

Yeh, I totally hear ya on that. I love my cordless this and that, but I still have to bust out something like my Stihl gasser weedwacker for heavy work. And, sure do wish they made a powerful enough cordless blower, but they just don't compete with something like my Husq 125B.

But speaking of that husqvarna, it's been crapping out lately, so I bought a new kit for it off Amazon (carb, fuel lines, gas/air filter, spark plug). I put all that it, adjusted the hi/low/idle screws. Ok great, now it works awesome...when it works. Now it won't start when it's warmed out. So now I gotta run out to harbor fright, pick up a spark plug tester, see if there's problems with that or the coil, or whatnot.

And of course there's using it, gotta mix the oil/gas, do this complicated song and dance starting it (full choke, prime the fuel line, pull chord 3 times, half choke, start it up, warm it up....ok, finally let's go). Meanwhile, with my B&D weedwacker/edger and hedge trimmer, so long as the battery is good to go, I pick the sucker up, press the go button and it's game time. So easy!

I will say though, there's just nastalgia that electric stuff just won't ever compete with. I don't ride em no more, but my last bike was a 77 yamaha twin. Hunting down needles for the old carbs, balancing the carbs, getting all that dialed in, man that's a labor of love. When that twin engine hums so sweet after you got it all dialed in, there's just magic to it.

My problem with the mandates for converting to EV's, I just hate all the gooberment intrusion is all. I'm totally cool with tech advancements, just hate people being told what to do by The Man!

 

[GeneV]

no question it has the power it needs for grass sans maybe a limited use time for a business.

I wonder how long one of those battery sets will keep the BH92 backhoe on my Kubota running ?

And that's the problem in a nutshell, but it WILL be solved. We'll all see the promised land soon enough: long run time with short charge time.

 

[DonaldP]

You all just jump right on that stuff.
I'm sticking with my 2 strokes till they pry them from my cold stiff fingers also.
Big brother can kiss my posterior.
Electrics will never in my lifetime provide the quality or quantity of work required
much of the time.
Do I have cordless drills and drivers yes, but I also have my heavy 3/4" right angle drill motor
and a standard ol 1/2" for backup and hard work.
My cordless impact is very nice but at times the pneumatic wrenches need to come out.
I'm even considering a cordless chainsaw for quick small storm clean up.
But electric can not at this time replace internal combustion when the work is long or heavy.

Exactly!!!

 

[airbiscuit]

Setting the bill aside, there is a growing market for electric vs. ICE tools and vehicles. Companies like Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, Polaris ... even Harley Davidson are adding more and more cordless/EV product offerings. I have friends who have purchased the latest generation cordless mowers. trimmers. blowers, etc. and they can't stop talking about how much they love them and prefer them to their gas powered tools.

Even before the California bill, we were seeing an avalanche of cordless / EV options. This will only accelerate that trend.

 

[jpolcyn]

Yeah, I love my diesel tractor and other diesel powered stuff. Starts right up. Except when it's real cold. Then I have to use the block heater. But that's no big deal, just hafta remember to plug it in. Sure hope that ice storm doesn't knock out the power like it did last winter. I guess I hoped in vain, the power just went out. Well, at least I have my gas generator. Hafta make sure I put in ethanol free gas last time I filled the tank. But if I forget I think there is some sort of additive I can use that will prevent all the problems associated with ethanol in fuel. But wait! I have that diesel powered generator and it usually starts without needing the block heater plugged in. Cool. Oh no! My fuel is gelled! Now I hafta add some stuff to keep the fuel from gelling. Crap, it gets worse. Not only is the diesel gelled but it also has become infected with some sort of biological stuff, now the tank is full of some sort of sort of slime! No problem, I'm sure I can buy some stuff to pour into the tank to kill the biologics. Well, got the stuff killed but now I need to replace filters and bleed the system. And it's freezing out!
Eric

All i can say is wow.

 

[ultrarunner]

I really like my cordless tools…

Use my personal Stihl AP blower every morning around 4 am blowing clear the Hospital Lobby Entry and Sidewalks… works great… quiet enough to use early am with enough power to make it perfect…

Hospital not willing to make the investment but many early morning patients, patient families and staff ask where can they buy one… so far all recoiled in shock at the price for Stihl blower, charger and batteries….

The hospital owns a like new commercial Echo backpack blower but always noise complaints when used… it does a great job keeping a couple of acres of roof free where the AP battery falls short

My battery trimmers, chainsaw etc… do a great job around the house.

That said… how many batteries would I need to mow 11 front and back lawns every two weeks?

How long would it take putting in 10 hour days cutting brush 3 days a week for several weeks cutting with a 10” blade???

I think just about every homeowner could make the switch spending between 2500 and 3000 to get there.

Maybe when the state forestry crews have a battery track record over several Fire seasons we can revisit?

 

[GeneV]

And, another one! $17k for this:

 

[kenmbz]

I wonder how many batteries you would need to do an acre of lawn?

 

[MossRoad]

I wonder how many batteries you would need to do an acre of lawn?

The guy answered that very question several times in the video.

They do 15-20 1/4 acre yards a day and have never run out of battery. They said it is supposed to run continuous for 7 hours.

He talks about up front cost and maintenance costs VS gas equipment.

Seemed like a pretty honest review.

 

[GeneV]

That's right!

$17K is a ginormous upfront cost for a mower, but the dude does have a point in terms of gas and maintenance cost savings. Personally, I can't justify it now with it being 3x the cost of my Bradley mower, but I imagine these prices will climb way down in the coming years as all the major brand get on the electric bandwagon. I'd get one, for sure.

 

[grsthegreat]

Omg!!! This is great!!!

Cost?

View attachment 721281

They sell these cub cadet models At home depot. Go to their website and read reviews. There not very good.

 

[MossRoad]

That's right!

$17K is a ginormous upfront cost for a mower, but the dude does have a point in terms of gas and maintenance cost savings. Personally, I can't justify it now with it being 3x the cost of my Bradley mower, but I imagine these prices will climb way down in the coming years as all the major brand get on the electric bandwagon. I'd get one, for sure.

As a homeowner, I'd never get my money out of it, as I only mow 1 lawn per week. I could see a commercial guy with a ton of small lawns on a daily basis getting their return on investment in a reasonable time.

I liked that the guy said they plug all of their electric equipment in inside their trailer, then plug in the trailer overnight and everything's ready to go in the morning. The only grease it needs is the caster spindles. And no belts.

 

[airbiscuit]

It will be fun watching as these things keep getting better and better (just like cordless tools did).

 

[kenmbz]

This one specd to last 9000 hours for the battery, that is pretty amazing. Wonder how heat/cold would impact that.
I would want a spare battery pack though, power outages would impact his day quite easily.
Less moving parts and easy maintenance, seems to be a huge draw from current devices, change a transmission out and see how long it takes vs. pop a motor off like on this one.

Pretty nice,

 

[GeneV]

As a homeowner, I'd never get my money out of it, as I only mow 1 lawn per week. I could see a commercial guy with a ton of small lawns on a daily basis getting their return on investment in a reasonable time.

I liked that the guy said they plug all of their electric equipment in inside their trailer, then plug in the trailer overnight and everything's ready to go in the morning. The only grease it needs is the caster spindles. And no belts.

Yeh, everybody should do what makes sense for them. For me, the most important factor in pricing is the personal value I get out of it. I just only do my own lawn as well, mowing around 2 acres of somewhat challenging terrain. It's doable with a garden tractor, but I simply didn't know what a breeze and pure fun it is to mow it until I climbed on a stand-on mower. It's flat out fun on a stander, is alls I could say. But not wrecking my back for 3 hours bouncing around on a tractor seat, that's the biggest benefit!

But there are downsides, hot engine blowing back at you, exhaust catching leaves on fire, it's hungry for gas (expensive now!), and it's LOUD! When the pricing of ev standers climbs down, would love to alleviate them downsides, yeh.

But also, for example look at that new electric Toro Grandstand, the vid I posted. I'm sure they'll offer it as their Multiforce option like they do with the gassers. Now you could add a snow blower or plow, giant leaf blower, dethatcher, aerator, mulch/dirt dump bucket, and Toro is planning on new attachments. Seems like a pretty sweet option for a homeowner if the pricing is reasonable.

 

[ultrarunner]

Year round vs seasonal use is another factor to consider...

 

[MossRoad]

Yeh, everybody should do what makes sense for them. For me, the most important factor in pricing is the personal value I get out of it. I just only do my own lawn as well, mowing around 2 acres of somewhat challenging terrain. It's doable with a garden tractor, but I simply didn't know what a breeze and pure fun it is to mow it until I climbed on a stand-on mower. It's flat out fun on a stander, is alls I could say. But not wrecking my back for 3 hours bouncing around on a tractor seat, that's the biggest benefit!

But there are downsides, hot engine blowing back at you, exhaust catching leaves on fire, it's hungry for gas (expensive now!), and it's LOUD! When the pricing of ev standers climbs down, would love to alleviate them downsides, yeh.

But also, for example look at that new electric Toro Grandstand, the vid I posted. I'm sure they'll offer it as their Multiforce option like they do with the gassers. Now you could add a snow blower or plow, giant leaf blower, dethatcher, aerator, mulch/dirt dump bucket, and Toro is planning on new attachments. Seems like a pretty sweet option for a homeowner if the pricing is reasonable.

I don't think I would want to stand for that long. We live on 1+ acre, but have a 1350sq ft house, 24x48 garage, 12x18 shed, above ground pool, deck, driveway, garden, so only about 2/3 of an acre of grass. We've got a 60" mower on the front of the PowerTrac. It takes my about 20 minutes to mow the yard. I could do an acre in 30. My seat is pretty comfortable. Arm rests, too.