I bought this mower because it was about the same price as a gas engine one and I am tired of oil changes, new spark plug & air filter, etc. Gas mowers are noisy too, and they pollute more than a car I'm told.
I already own an 18 volt B&D tool set (drill, flashlight, circular & reciprocating saw) and a B&D weedeater that uses the same battery as the tool set so I ended up with four batteries and two chargers. I like not having to drag a cord around the shop and the weedeater got me to thinking about the new battery-powered lawmowers.
It has a lead-acid battery that you take out and recharge between mowings. I can do my front and rear yards twice on one charge. It stays on the bench in winter making the mower chassis so light that I can hang it up in the garage to loosen up floor space.
Mine can mulch, side discharge, or bag and after a mowing I remove the battery, tip the mower on its side and hose off the underside of the mowing deck. This removes the grass that sticks there, improving the "throw" of cut material.
So why am I writing this? Electricity is generated mostly by coal-fired plants so this isn't really a "green" alternative to a gasoline mower. But hopefully the national debate will begin to focus more on how we generate electricity than on how we use it. In other words plug-in electric cars are important sure, but if we continue to make the juice they use by buring coal the carbon dioxide is still being pumped into the air, even more of it as the demand for electricity rises.
Everyone knows that coal is bad. Fossil fuel. So is natural gas. So if the pressure is on battery-powered mowers, cars, etc. then let's look harder at how we generate that juice: wind, solar, hydrogen, tidal, even nuclear. Anything that doesn't spew out harmful gasses.
I'm not an environmentalist actually, I'm just interested in how we as a society try to solve issues like global warming and energy. I would bet there are many of you readers who are also concerned.
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