Honda lawnmowers transition to electric power

[wh500special 2,188]

I don’t recall if it was posted on this forum yet, but 2023 was the final year for Honda’s production of gasoline powered lawnmowers.  Everything through 2024 and anything left in stores still - was made last year.   
 

I had assumed they were just bailing on the outdoor power equipment market.  I was thinking, perhaps, it just wasn’t a money maker for them since there were so many cheap mowers on the market making their premium priced things unattractive. 
 

Today I found that they are instead transitioning 100% of their walk behind mowers to battery powered.  Honda electric mowers    
 

They are also introducing battery powered zero turn mowers .   It appears these are larger format/semi-commercial models with evidently enough battery capacity to cut up to 15 acres “in ideal conditions.”   Ground speed doesn’t seem impressive though.  
 

Hmm…
 

I would suspect that their snow equipment and tillers will be following along too in the not too distant future.  
 

Almost 2 years ago we stumbled into the little battery/motor combo unit they are making to retrofit a small engine.  We discussed it here.   Looks like this is what is making it onto the mowers.   In fact, I was again looking at that product tonight when I stumbled on to this other news.   A recently acquired model 551 Suburban has me wondering if I repower with electric or an engine…

 

I mow my yard with a Honda gas powered mower (no, I no longer use a Wheel Horse).  It takes me about an hour to do it if I push the thing as fast as i can and the grass isn’t too high.  It appears none of their standard offerings would get me to the end if I didn’t buy a second battery.

 

For a typical homeowner there are a lot of upsides to a battery electric lawnmower.  And of course a big monetary downside.   Certainly not one size fits all, but I think the benefits can outweigh the disadvantages for those already shopping in this price point.   In the case of Honda, the electric versions are similarly priced to the gas models (Honda is expensive in this market).  This is on parity to the other premium products.  May be easier to swallow for the higher end consumer.  
 

It would also be nice if some manufacturer would offer a battery platform that could handle the mower, snowblower, leaf blower, trimmer, tiller, vacuum cleaner, blender, stand mixer, shop vac, air compressor, drill, saw, table saw, inverter, etc all from same battery and charger.  Get all your work, household, and recreational equipment using the same battery and we’ll know we’ve made it. Milwaukee comes closest to this, but limits everything to 18v which doesn’t seem like an ideal fit.  And nobody is connecting the dots between shop and household applications.  

 

There’s bound to be some kind of big leap forward in the next decade regarding consumer product battery formats that will have us looking back wondering why we didn’t get there sooner. 

Anyway, Honda - who has been reluctant to make the leap into electric vehicles - making this big transition in other markets seems like interesting news for

this group.  
 

Steve

[SylvanLakeWH 25,602]

5 hours ago, wh500special said:

It would also be nice if some manufacturer would offer a battery platform that could handle the mower, snowblower, leaf blower, trimmer, tiller, vacuum cleaner, blender, stand mixer, shop vac, air compressor, drill, saw, table saw, inverter, etc all from same battery and charger.  Get all your work, household, and recreational equipment using the same battery and we’ll know we’ve made it.

 

Dewault line does exactly that. 20v / 60v

 

Ive had their mower, blower, line trimmer, shrub trimmer, tree saw, chain saw and loping shears for 4 years. Outstanding performance. Same batteries as my hand tools. Mow three lawns a week. No issues.

 

8 ah - 12 ah batteries...

 

Just bought the snow blower and extra set of batteries. We'll see...

 

Only issue: 60 v snow blower batteries work on anything, 20 v work on anything but the snow blower... no big deal, i love the added time on my leaf blower using the 12 ah 60 v battery!!!

 

Ill post up opinions after first snow... 

 

There is no denying the convenience... no gas, no oil, push a button and go. Quiet, no smell... Zero maintenance.

 

 re: 

[ebinmaine 67,657]

I'll be curious to see how long it takes for the industry as a whole to come up with a battery that works anywhere near as well at lower temps. 

 

This is of course a major hindrance to the northern half of the country for going full electric in cars trucks and now, yard equipment.  

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,602]

My chargers and batteries will be moved inside for the winter. I don't think it will be an issue having warm batteries... kinda like painting in cold weather - outside quick paint with warm paint and what's being painted, then inside to cure...

 

We'll see... 

[Ed Kennell 38,230]

@OoPEZoO       Care to reply to this topic?

[adsm08 2,079]

That's great, if you don't have any real space to cut.

 

We had a Kobalt electric at work to cut the little bit of grass around the dealership, and it made what used to be a two hour a week job a never ending process.

 

The hourly kid we had used to be able to do all of it in two hours or less each week. After we bought the electric one he would go out and kill one battery in 10 to 20 minutes, come in, swap, kill the other one in 10 to 20 minutes, then still have to wait 2 hours for the first one to charge, and it just became this never ending cycle of waiting for batteries to charge a lot slower than they died.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,326]

I was thinking about buying an electric backpack leaf blower until I did so digging. A two-battery unit would last about an hour. The recharge of a battery was 2 hours, only one charger. So I could work for an hour, rest for 4 hours and come back to all the leaves blown back over the yard. Not wasting $700.00 on a big PITA.

[squonk 41,158]

31 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

That's great, if you don't have any real space to cut.

 

We had a Kobalt electric at work to cut the little bit of grass around the dealership, and it made what used to be a two hour a week job a never ending process.

 

The hourly kid we had used to be able to do all of it in two hours or less each week. After we bought the electric one he would go out and kill one battery in 10 to 20 minutes, come in, swap, kill the other one in 10 to 20 minutes, then still have to wait 2 hours for the first one to charge, and it just became this never ending cycle of waiting for batteries to charge a lot slower than they died.

The Kobalt battery powered OPE equipment batteries were junk. Multiple failures.

 

I bought my son a USED Stihl electric push mower when he bought his house 3 yrs. ago. His entire yard takes a half hour to mow. Battery is charged twice a year. I have no idea how old the battery actually is. 

[wh500special 2,188]

3 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

I'll be curious to see how long it takes for the industry as a whole to come up with a battery that works anywhere near as well at lower temps. 

 

This is of course a major hindrance to the northern half of the country for going full electric in cars trucks and now, yard equipment.  

 

Cold temperatures are really a challenge for charging.  Certain battery types don’t like to accept input power when cold or do so at only low currents, so often have Battery Management Systems (BMS) that shut them down at cold temperatures.   In electric cars I would guess this is mostly related to inability of the battery to accept the input power that comes from regenerative braking.  
 

The batteries themselves actually warm up significantly when power is drawn from them.   So they have an initial sluggishness but can self-warm and get the chemistry going better.  We’ve been working with some specialized lithium batteries at work and are seeing this happen…after an initial struggle to get going they warm up and act almost like a normal day.  
 

The problem isn’t solved though.  Conversion of stored chemical energy to electrical power is kinetically limited, so is a fact of life.   Conversely, kinetics also gives the potential for undesirable runaway when all has gone bad. 🔥

 

For stuff that can be left plugged in or has detachable batteries this is really only a problem of learning new habits.   
 

Toro, DeWalt - and probably others - have had some battery powered snow blowers on the market for a couple of seasons.  They get generally good reviews.   Not suited to every purpose or application, of course.  But they work where specified appropriately. 
 

Steve

[wh500special 2,188]

1 hour ago, adsm08 said:

That's great, if you don't have any real space to cut.

 

We had a Kobalt electric at work to cut the little bit of grass around the dealership, and it made what used to be a two hour a week job a never ending process.

 

…

 

1 hour ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

I was thinking about buying an electric backpack leaf blower until I did so digging. … Not wasting $700.00 on a big PITA.

Both of these are examples of needing to make sure the product meets the intended application.  Putting appropriate thought into the purchase is certainly required.  No doubt, Elcamino would have been sorely disappointed had he pulled the trigger.  The dealership should have been able to preempt this. 
 

I’m one of those people who “do the math” on just about everything when I have a decision to make.  It’s become clear that the marketing and sales momentum behind such products usually ignores the realities.  Dealerships and sales people often seem to be the least informed when it comes to selling a technical product.  I suspect they are soiling the acceptance of such things by not understanding where they work and where they don’t. 

we have a 100-year history with gas engines that has built in our collective experience and expectations of them. 

Steve

 

[wh500special 2,188]

5 hours ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

 

Dewault line does exactly that. 20v / 60v

 

 

 

 re: 

Jim, I hadn’t really looked at DeWalt’s offerings lately. They have a ton of stuff.  But they still need to break into the household market (good vacuum cleaners, etc).  They are getting close though!

 

Toro has a surprising array of outdoor products now.  But no crossover. 

 

I’m predicting whoever breaks this wall is gonna own the market!

 

Steve

Edited November 24 by wh500special

[wh500special 2,188]

After I sent my last post I realized this is a big opportunity for Honda…

 

Honda already sells all kinds of different products and they have both a loyal following and a good reputation.  If they were to introduce a huge array of battery powered stuff covering all bases from tools, to household, to recreational they could dominate.  With their network of car dealers, atv dealers, motorcycle dealers, lawn mower shops, generator sellers, boat dealers, and all the big boxes that already carry their stuff they could offer - and sell - just about everything imaginable with their battery platform attached. 

They are far too conservative a company to take advantage of this though. 
 

Steve

[CCW 1,299]

I have an old plug in Toro handheld leaf blower.  Works amazing well and is about 30 years old.  Not sure any battery will last that long.

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,602]

4 hours ago, adsm08 said:

That's great, if you don't have any real space to cut.

 

We had a Kobalt electric at work to cut the little bit of grass around the dealership, and it made what used to be a two hour a week job a never ending process.

 

The hourly kid we had used to be able to do all of it in two hours or less each week. After we bought the electric one he would go out and kill one battery in 10 to 20 minutes, come in, swap, kill the other one in 10 to 20 minutes, then still have to wait 2 hours for the first one to charge, and it just became this never ending cycle of waiting for batteries to charge a lot slower than they died.

 

3 hours ago, squonk said:

The Kobalt battery powered OPE equipment batteries were junk. Multiple failures.

 

I bought my son a USED Stihl electric push mower when he bought his house 3 yrs. ago. His entire yard takes a half hour to mow. Battery is charged twice a year. I have no idea how old the battery actually is. 

 

2 hours ago, wh500special said:

 

Both of these are examples of needing to make sure the product meets the intended application.  Putting appropriate thought into the purchase is certainly required.  No doubt, Elcamino would have been sorely disappointed had he pulled the trigger.  The dealership should have been able to preempt this. 
 

I’m one of those people who “do the math” on just about everything when I have a decision to make.  It’s become clear that the marketing and sales momentum behind such products usually ignores the realities.  Dealerships and sales people often seem to be the least informed when it comes to selling a technical product.  I suspect they are soiling the acceptance of such things by not understanding where they work and where they don’t. 

we have a 100-year history with gas engines that has built in our collective experience and expectations of them. 

Steve

 

 

Sales people knew nothing about them... 

 

Takes me 45 minutes to mow the three lawns i do with my Dewalt 20v. Never run out of juice using two 10 ah batteries that came with it. Not needed so far, but I have several additional batteries from hand tools that are interchangeable so no issues.

 

Could i mow for two hours? Nope. But for my applications all the 20v tools are just right.

 

We'll see how the blower does this winter. It's my back up for the C-105 plow rig and a clean up tool that Mrs. Sylvan can use with no muss no fuss... push a button...

 

Just like electric cars, makes sense in some scenarios and not in others... 

 

 

Edited November 24 by SylvanLakeWH

[adsm08 2,079]

4 hours ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

 

Sales people knew nothing

 

 

I think you just won "Describe the World in 10 Words or Less".

[OoPEZoO 525]

14 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

@OoPEZoO       Care to reply to this topic?

I have lots of thoughts…..but I’m out of town on vacation this weekend 😀

 

the move to electrics for general daily mowing use is inevitable. It is SOOOO much better. I run a 42” electric zero turn, and I would never go back to gas for the purpose of mowing. The problem is that there is still no solution for a proper garden tractor.  Glad to discuss further, just not today

[kpinnc 12,100]

On 11/24/2024 at 12:33 AM, wh500special said:

Today I found that they are instead transitioning 100% of their walk behind mowers to battery powered.  Honda electric mowers    

I have seen a few electric zero turns that are promising, but insanely expensive. One US company is Greenworks (the commercial versions), and they are $25,000 or more. And I mean a lot more. 
 

The zero turns are built from heavy gauge aluminum and have some surprising run times and features. I think the original company has now sold and has smaller “big box” models as well. That being said, even if I won the lottery there is no chance I would spend that much money on a mower.