Sustainable Landscaping

Transitioning to Electric Landscaping Equipment

If you have stepped into your local Home Depot or Lowe's recently to look for landscaping equipment for your home, you will have noticed that their shelves are piled high with brands like Ryobi, GreenWorks, DeWalt, Ego, and many others. The country's landscaping equipment is going electric! Using electric landscaping equipment makes sense from noise, emissions and health perspectives! Plus, the power and runtime of electric landscaping equipment has improved dramatically over the past few years. Although the initial cost of electric landscaping equipment may be higher than their gas-powered counterparts, it is estimated that over their lifetime, battery equipment will wind up costing less.

The battery revolution began with electric trimmers and leaf blowers, which are easier to power with batteries. This allowed the transition away from gas-powered trimmers and leaf blowers, which are heavy, noisy, and emit fumes. Electric trimmers are now widely used and may soon overtake their gas-powered counterparts. When it comes to leaf blowers, please remember that LEAVES ARE NOT LITTER! However, turf grass does get smothered by leaves. To avoid this, please prioritize mulching them in place. When leaves need to be relocated to avoid creating slippery surfaces, electric leaf blowers are preferable to their gas-powered counterparts.

Electric lawnmowers come in three categories: push, self-propelled, and riding. Today's top cordless mowers can tackle an hour or two of cutting on a single charge-enough for around half an acre. Compared to gas-powered mowers, which need spark plugs, oil changes, and gas, their electric counterparts just need to be charged or plugged in. They are quieter, and best of all: no fumes!

Electric vehicles are increasingly being used for landscaping and today's EV revolution is keeping pace with the advances in electric landscaping equipment. The all-electric Ford 150 Lightning has a 7700 lbs max towing capacity in addition to having ample space in the trunk to transport an electric lawnmower along with its battery pack to landscaping jobs. Battery packs can be charged from the truck between jobs, and then plugged into the mower/trimmer/blower when needed.