Regulations, Pandemic, Calfornia Accelerating Shift To Battery Power
Lawn & Landscape Magazine hosted an interesting webinar this week which sought to address some of the more common complaints from industry professionals regarding the shift from gas-powered to battery-powered equipment.
Demystifying Battery Powered Equipment is the topic of the one-hour webinar which addresses a wide variety of topics including Regulations, Battery Basics, Industry Growth, Cost of Ownership, Charging Solutions, and, perhaps most importantly, How Did We Get Here? which is addressed first.
State and local regulators deserve most of the blame (or credit depending on where you stand on the issue) for the current movement to battery-powered equipment, according to the two presenters: Toley McGettigan from Horizon Distributors and Dan Sumner from Greenworks Commercial.
Your Neighbors, Competitors & HOAs Accelerated The Push...
But government officials aren’t the only ones who kickstarted this Lithium-Ion-Cell-shift in recent years. You can thank your neighbors and existing customers, many of whom had to start working from home during the lockdown periods from 2020-2021, said McGettigan.
Former office dwellers who were previously never bothered by daytime noise around the house were suddenly trying to figure out the quietest spot in the house for all-day Zoom meetings. Adding to that were the growing chorus of complaints that HOAs began fielding from these new 24/7 homebodies.
“The gas to battery-powered movement really started to kick in during Covid. It was an accelerator with more folks working form home.” – Toley McGettigan
Other forces pushing the shift to battery-powered equipment in the lawn care and landscaping industry may also include some of your local competitors who either began promoting their use of battery-powered equipment or even upstart competitors whose business models are built around being 100% electric.
...And So Did California
And finally, don’t forget to gaze westward to the left coast and California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) which has led the battery-powered bonanza on their quest to eliminate the use of all gasoline-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and other power equipment.
And in a cautionary note for those of us who gladly live outside of the People’s Republic of California, McGettigan says that federal policymakers at the EPA typically lag and duplicate exactly what CARB implements in the PRC in terms of regulating pollutants anywhere from 2-5 years after CARB enacts their policies.
Consumer vs. Commercial Battery Powered Equipment
Much of the second portion of the webinar focuses on battery basics, voltage calculations, Amp hours vs. Watt hours, and a deeper dive into the topic of BMS.
BMS is an electronic system that manages a rechargeable battery to ensure it operates safely, and efficiently. BMS is designed to monitor the parameters associated with the battery pack, and the individual lithium-ion cells, apply the collected data to eliminate safety risks and optimize the battery performance.
The presenters ultimately shift the focus to clarifying the difference between consumer and commercial battery-powered lawn equipment.
This distinction boils down to a device’s IP (Ingress Protection) rating which is a way of showing the effectiveness of electrical enclosures in blocking foreign bodies such as dust, moisture, liquids and accidental contact.
Understanding Lawn Equipment IP Ratings
A leaf blower or lawn mower’s IP rating is one of the things that sets commercial equipment apart, said Sumner noting that most commercial lawn equipment is going to have a rating of IPX4, IPX5 or IPX6.
Realistically, you will probably not see lawn equipment rated at IPX7 which indicates “protection from ingress of water in harmful quantities” or IPX8 which indicates “equipment is suitable for continuous immersion in water.”
Magnet quality is another key factor that determines motor efficiency in commercial lawn equipment, and the better the magnet, the more efficient the equipment will be. The presenters use the analogy of magnet quality in home stereo speakers with a scale showing Worst (Radio Shack) to Middle (Rockford Fosgate) to Best (Bose).
Runtime And Weight Are Lawn Pros Biggest Complaints
In the next segment of the webinar, the presenters turn their attention to the complaints they hear most often about battery powered equipment from lawn care and landscaping pros.
“What is the runtime? That is the always the first question we receive,” says McGettigan. And he says his answer is always the same: “It depends.”
He says that battery powered equipment does not need to run a full speed in order to achieve maximum torque. His advice for lawn care and landscape business owners is to help your ground crew understand that equipment like backpack blowers don’t need to blow at full speed to reach maximum torque.
As far as technological advances, McGettigan says we are starting to see some transition to a new technology called a pouch cell which looks more like a wafer. With pouch cells you will see 1,250 cycles to 80% life compared to cylindrical cells (standard batteries) which offer only 500 cycles to 80%.
The second complaint they hear most frequently pertains to the weight of battery-powered lawn care equipment. While the presenters don’t deny the weight issue, they could only recommend that lawn pros wear batteries around their backs, so you are carrying most of the weight on your backs and not in your hands.
Cost Of Ownership of Battery Powered Lawn Equipment
Beyond runtime and weight, cost is the third most pressing concern for lawn care and landscape professionals considering the shift to battery-powered mowers, blowers, trimmer, pruners and chainsaws.
Toward the end of the webinar, the presenters share the following spreadsheet which compares the annual fuel costs for a 2-man lawn crew using 7 pieces of equipment for 50 weeks out of the year.
While the gas powered equipment has an annual oil and fuel cost of $3,330, the battery powered equipment has an annual cost of $258. While annual fuel cost comparisons are helpful, they don’t take into account the approximately $30,000 to $40,000 that an owner would have to spend to acquire this new battery-powered arsenal.
Which leads us to the Q&A portion of the webinar when the topic of converting existing gas-powered lawn equipment to battery-power was an option. Other than Towa’s proprietary system for converting shafted lawn care products, there don’t appear to be any viable solutions out there for mowers and blowers.
In closing, the presenters said that the industry is moving in this direction whether we like it or not. And those of us in the Southeast are firmly in the “not” camp judging by the Battery Powered Regional adoption line graph the presenters shared.
And when an industry giant like Brightview makes a commitment like a 5-year transition to all battery powered equipment, that will only accelerate the trend kickstarted by local regulations, Covid and California.
You can listen to the full webinar, Demystifying Battery Powered Equipment, anytime over at Lawn & Landscape.
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