No more petrol (gas) lawnmowers in California from 2024

No gas powered lawn mowers in California. Are there electric mowers that will do the job
or is everyone stuck with getting a goat.
I bought an electric (battery not cord) for my parents awhile back because I was wanted something with less maintenance headaches for them. I later bought one for myself because I don't want those headaches myself. No headaches from fumes or exhaust gasses, don't have to worry about winterizing fuel lines, no hearing loss, and it does the job just fine.

Same for me. I grew up as a kid seeing my dad mowing the grass with a trimmer / brushcutter (whatever you call that in english). I have a sneaking suspicion it did nothing good to his kidneys, unfortunately (sigh). That and vintage 1970's car and pollution.

Many years later I tried the trimmer a couple of times - and gosh that thing was a brute. I felt like a parkinsonian afterwards, and half sick with the noise and fumes.

Then my father grew older and my parents went for a classic lawn mower when I was a teen. It was like a holy revolution.
Except I spent many saturdays afternoons pushing the goddam thing around the family home to try and help them. Mixing oil and gas, the fumes, the noise... tedious shore. Emptying the bucket filled with the grass, rinse, repeat.
Start in March, and then every three weeks average, hoping summer would burn the grass into submission. Never happened except in 2003 with the heat wave. So it took 40°C for three weeks to slow down the grass growth, - screw the damn thing.

The only funny times was when I chased the rooster with the mower - probably binge watched too much Tom & Jerry cartoons. My sister nearly died of laughter. My mom... didn't laughed. At all. We never knew if she was more worried for the rooster or for the mower.

I have a running joke saying the grass is like my hair - it's a never ending fight where I can only lose on the long term.

Now my mom is alone, aged 79 - and me and my sisters are glad she went with electric lawn mowers nearly two decades ago...

Except the damn things are not exactly durable: my mom already has killed or outlived three of them (the broken things skeletons and corpses are still hanging around).
There is just too much surface, our old family house is a bit like a scottish mansion.
Luckily my mom has gradually given up the fight - and passed the torch to the guys from the village, they are doing it for a few bucks. Nice chaps.
 
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But how one hour of mower use can be anywhere comparable to 300 miles on road? What is that exactly, ecological damage?
 
A two-stroke mower's exhaust? Guess...
 
But how one hour of mower use can be anywhere comparable to 300 miles on road? What is that exactly, ecological damage?
In causing pollution - carbon emissions etc. Car makers have been under pressure to reduce harmful emissions but petrol powered mowers not so much.
 
I am still having extremely hard time believing that tiny little engine of mower can more than triple exhaust pattern of proper vehicle. But who knows, maybe I am wrong and cars are really so much cleaner today.
 
Not so much carbon emissions by volume, but the type of emission. Micro-particulates, other products of sub-optimal combustion. A small, dirty engine spews out a lot of toxic compounds.
The nauseating smell of the thing is a clue.
 
I have a little over three acres to mow.Using two 42in riding mowers it takes 1.5
hours. Do they make an electric riding mower because I am not push mowing
that much yard. I don't live in California so I'm good for now.
 
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I have a little over three acres to mow.Using two 42in riding mowers it takes 1.5
hours. Do they make an electric riding mower because I am not push mowing
that much yard. I don't live in California so I'm good for now.
Yes, electric riding mowers are a thing. Ego makes one that uses the same battery packs as their trimmers/blowers etc so you can hot swap.
 
Ego? Apparently, those who design props for SF movies designed this thing. I'd repaint it.


I have an Ego, the slightly older model of this current one:

342234xlg.jpg

It is very well thought out ergonomically, well made, very sturdy. Expensive, kind of like the iPhone of electric lawnmowers. I have 2 batteries and use them in my Ego trimmer as well.
 
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I have an electric mower and it has been doing fine on my 0.25 acre garden. Maybe swap out the battery towards the end, but that's about it. I don't miss the headache of getting gasoline, mixing in the oil, and winterization, followed by inevitable troubleshooting at the beginning of the new season because the blasted thing is not starting.
And i wholeheartedly agree with other comments about getting rid of the lawn. There's no reason this should be the accepted standard. For example, planting native plants/grasses decreases the need to water and encourages wildlife/pollinators to stick around. I'm not big into butterflies and bees, but when you look out and there's hummingbirds tearing it up making buzzing sounds darting from flower to flower, THAT is pretty cool.
 
Lawns are a bad idea (for anything other than sports)... so I certainly don't mind this idea. Plus it'll be quieter.

If people really insist they can go back to push-mowers.

If their property is large enough to require a ride-on mower, than perhaps they can garden or renaturalise part of it.

All good.
 
Ego? Apparently, those who design props for SF movies designed this thing. I'd repaint it.


I have an Ego, the slightly older model of this current one:

View attachment 673551

It is very well thought out ergonomically, well made, very sturdy. Expensive, kind of like the iPhone of electric lawnmowers. I have 2 batteries and use them in my Ego trimmer as well.
I think an electric lawnmower fits your use case very well indeed. I have approximately 8 times as much lawn to mow, often on a twice weekly basis. I’m also the last person in my neighborhood who doesn’t owe a riding lawnmower or hire the mowing done. I buy cheap self propelled walk behind lawn mowers for less than $300USD and I get approximately 10 or 12 years use before the little 4 cycle 150cc petrol engine breaks a valve ring or connecting rod. I also require a tiller for gardening and a 3 stage rotary snowblower for winter, both of which have 200cc motors and cost less than $600USD. There are no viable electric alternatives for either. I will concede that I’ve always despised 2 cycle trimmers and leaf blowers. I went electric with both years ago. However, I do need a specialist 2-cycle chainsaw, which again, can’t be replaced. Several times I’ve needed to clear fallen limbs after a storm, very often accompanied by a multi day power outage. And don’t get me started on the uselessness of a pure electric car in an extreme winter climate. Petrol and diesel cars (and trucks) produce lots of waste heat, which comes in handy when you’re stranded in a blizzard.
You definitely pay a premium for electric, and above a certain level there are no options really. Not yet anyway.
 
The big advantage of the petrol tank in an ICE-powered vehicle is its huge energy content. It will take you a long distance. The big disadvantage of the petrol tank is its huge energy content when it goes up in flames. I have seen the results of some of those fires, and the attendant explosions. Scary.
 
Not heard in a pub.

"Tell me about your lawnmower."

I have an Ego.

"No, no. Tell me about your lawnmower."

:)
 
No gas powered lawn mowers in California. Are there electric mowers that will do the job
or is everyone stuck with getting a goat.
Well, I've not used a gas lawnmower for over 30 years on my, admittedly quite small, lawn, so they're certainly capable of doing "the job" for me. What, exactly, is your "job" here? The answer will be different if you've got an acre or so or if you've got 50.

In any case, goats are browsers, so they're not the best to keep a lawn in check.
 
I miss Utah. My yard was small, only five acres, but far more than I wanted to mow. You know how I dealt with the issue of mowing the yard? I *didn't.* I lived in the desert. Way I figured it, if I didn't mow the lawn, and didn't water the lawn, then anything that grew there was *meant* to grow there. And it worked: typically had about three feet of alfalfa. While my neighbors spent Odin knows how much time, energy and resources on hosing down their alkaline yards and spreading seeds and then chopping it down when it had the temerity to grow. Insanity.

Anyobdy brags about their electric lawnmower being better for the environment, point out that better still would be to not use the energy at all for such a pointless exercise, and that more plant life equals more carbon dioxide being sucked out of the air. Shame them. Make them cry and run away if at all possible. It's heartwarming.
Would that more people living in arid areas had your attitude.
 
I wonder why people like these lithium battery mowers - I've never used one, but my guess would be they are WAY underpowered. A decent gas mower is in the 2-3 HP range, likewise, a capable corded electric mower is in the 1.4kW-2kW range. But curiously I can never find the power figures for these battery powered ones - which I find to be frankly dishonest on the manufacturers' part.

I've just looked up the specs for the EGO Power+ LM2100 - they promise 45 min runtime with an 56V 10Ah battery - that means 560Wh/0.75 = 756 W, which isn't a lot, and from my quick search, this seems to be one of the more respectable ones for smallish yards out there.
 
I wonder why people like these lithium battery mowers - I've never used one, but my guess would be they are WAY underpowered. A decent gas mower is in the 2-3 HP range, likewise, a capable corded electric mower is in the 1.4kW-2kW range. But curiously I can never find the power figures for these battery powered ones - which I find to be frankly dishonest on the manufacturers' part.

I've just looked up the specs for the EGO Power+ LM2100 - they promise 45 min runtime with an 56V 10Ah battery - that means 560Wh/0.75 = 756 W, which isn't a lot, and from my quick search, this seems to be one of the more respectable ones for smallish yards out there.
They probably compute the endurance on significantly less than 100% power. If electric vehicle have shown us anything it is that peak power is relatively easy to achieve compared to endurance, add a super capacitor if you absolutely need peak power.
 

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