ultrarunner
Epic Contributor
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2004
- Messages
- 24,348
- Tractor
- Cat D3, Deere 110 TLB, Kubota BX23 and L3800 and RTV900 with restored 1948 Deere M, 1949 Farmall Cub, 1953 Ford Jubliee and 1957 Ford 740 Row Crop, Craftsman Mower, Deere 350C Dozer 50 assorted vehicles from 1905 to 2006
Have several EV in the family and no issues…Without me asking or asking for more money, my landscaper has mostly switched over to battery electric lawn care equipment. Our city does not mandate it yet but the writing is on the wall.
At my parents' house where I do the yard work, I use three battery tools (mower, trimmer, blower). One battery gets me through the entrie yard and it's a decent size corner lot of about 9,000sq ft (for around here). I have three batteries and three chargers.
On a personal level my wife and I both drive battery EVs and we also have an old truck that's obviously not an EV.
Driving the truck to the gas station and paying $75 for a tank that gets 220 miles is just a terrible experience overall at this point. 220 miles in either EV costs no more than $9.
One of the EVs has enough range for us to drive from San Diego to Las Vegas on one charge.
Every EV owner I talk to feels the same. It's a vastly superior option if you can charge at home and drive less than 150 miles per day on average.
Overall, I'm on board with switching to battery for MY lifestyle right now. It's been great and I have no regrets other than not doing it sooner.
It's come a long way and with more adoption and infrastructure it will be a smarter and smarter choice for more and more people.
There was a time when the public had to cope with phasing out horses when a better solution came along. I'm sure early engines had many downsides compared to the good old reliable equine.
This isn't to say that policy level decisions are always the way to go. Sometimes they have unintended consequences. But there was no policy or law that mandated I switch to EVs, though there were many state and federal efforts to help advance the adoption as there are with many things. The free market gave me the option and I made the decision that I thought was right for me based on what I would like to think was a sound and sensible process.
Circling back to the beginning of my post, I am going to assume that my landscaper made the decision that was best for him as well. That's the way it should be.
The real problem for me is the ban on gas brush-trimmers for mandatory annual vegetation management on acres of rugged hillside…
The added weight of the full battery backpack and the thousands of dollars start up cost for a homeowner once per year just doesn’t pencil out when I have great Echo Handlebar brush cutters that are also lightweight and paid for.
A gallon of mix goes a long way…
I like my Stihl AP chainsaw, hand and pole trimmers, pole chainsaw, blower, etc…
I tried the battery backpack on in the store and and had them work up pricing and it was well over 2k