Go electric and never pull a lawn mower starter cord again

By Julie Banken
WSU Chelan/Douglas County Master Gardener

green electric lawn mower
A new battery-powered lawn mower comes with a portable charging station and removable batteries. One battery will power this self-propelled model for about 45 minutes, more than the time needed to recharge the spare battery. – Provided photo/Julie Banken
Julie Banken
Julie Banken – WSU Master Gardener intern – Provided photo/WSU Master Gardeners

Successfully starting a lawn mower’s engine requires a full-body effort. Pulling on the starter cord must be done at just the right speed to start the series of events that bring the engine to life. Predictably, some step in this mechanical chain reaction will break down, and the engine will respond to each tug with a sputter. It will only be a matter of time before the starter cord goes limp or your back goes out.

Fortunately, there is a better way to start a mower. The secret is to go electric.

My first electric lawn mower featured a better kind of cord: the kind that plugs into the wall. With a long extension, I strategically planned my route across the grass so that I wouldn’t run over the cord with the blade. Being tethered to the house took a little patience, but the mower started right up every single time.

Upgrading to a cordless mower totally transformed my mowing experience. Instead of plugging into the house for power, my new mower runs on electricity stored in a removable battery. The battery has liberated me not only from the rope-start engine, but from the extension cord, too. I can mow our entire lawn in under an hour on one charge.

Besides being easy to start, battery-powered lawnmowers offer a long list of other advantages. First and foremost, they don’t require gasoline. Along with flammable hydrocarbons, gasoline contains a host of toxic additives. Breathing even small amounts of gasoline vapor can be harmful, and combusting it sends all these chemicals on a one-way trip into the air.

Burning gas in small engines like those in lawnmowers is especially problematic, as few come equipped with pollution-trapping catalytic converters. In fact, according to the EPA, gas-powered mowers can emit as much pollution in one hour as a car driven 100 miles. Given that turf covers over 40 million acres of land in the United States alone, the fewer gas-powered mowers out there, the better.

Because they don’t even have engines, electric mowers are significantly quieter than gas-powered mowers. They also vibrate less, making them less stressful on your hands and arms. Best of all, they are easy to maintain. There is no starter cord nor any of the other parts that make up a combustion engine. Electric mowers don’t need oil changes or air filter replacements and have no fuel tank to empty at the end of the mowing season.

Charging batteries is simple; just plug them in. New battery-powered lawnmowers come with portable charging stations and one or two removable lithium-ion batteries that can also be used in a suite of other electric garden tools, including leaf blowers, weed eaters, edgers, trimmers, and even chainsaws. Stick with the same brand for all your electric tools, and the batteries will be interchangeable.

One concern many people have is that lithium batteries are bad for the environment. It is true that mining for anything is destructive. Like mining for oil, mining for lithium results in habitat destruction and environmental contamination. Still, lithium batteries have advantages over petroleum-based fuel that help make up for damage caused by mining. They produce no harmful, climate-warming exhaust, they can be charged over and over again, and they can be recycled.

Mower batteries typically last three to 10 years, depending on the brand and how you take care of them. Keep these tips in mind:

  • Remove batteries from the mower and recharge them after each use. Take them out of the charging station when they are charged.
  • Store batteries indoors where temperatures stay constant, rather than in a shed or uninsulated garage. The ideal storage temperature is between 40 and 80 degrees.
  • Recharge batteries before they are completely drained. Batteries do best when they stay charged above 20%.
  • In the winter, store your batteries at about 40% charge, then fully charge them when you are ready to mow again in the spring.
  • Keep lithium and other valuable metals in the loop and out of the landfill. Recycle old batteries and battery-powered devices at local drop-off locations.

A WSU Chelan and Douglas County Master Gardener column appears weekly in The Wenatchee World. To learn more, visit bit.ly/MGchelandouglas or call (509) 667-6540.