I'm sure that over 6 years you would have spent well over $499 on fuel, maintenance, oil changes, spark plugs, and repairs on all your different machines if they were gas powered. Since you already have the equipment, I'd just bite the bullet and get a new battery. Heck... get two; if you rotate them you may get a longer life.

 

Every time I have run the numbers, gas wins on total cost of ownership. And it's not even close. The bigger the equipment and property gets, the more gas still makes sense. Where battery really wins is convenience and simplicity of maintenance. No multi-step starting procedure, no seasonal storage concerns, and if something goes wrong, you either replace the battery, or replace the tool. Not a very complicated diagnostic flow chart there and a lot of gas equipment does indeed get replaced prematurely for minor issues. But batteries are expensive, and if you opt to change battery platforms, you often end up replacing multiple tools. Plenty of otherwise fully functional tools get replaced simply due to the battery platform getting superseded by something newer and shinier.

 

G’day legends,

Your thoughts on the long term viability of battery powered equipment?

I assume it's a lot like power tools. You buy a voltage set and try to make it work as long as possible. However, eventually it's cheaper to buy the latest and greatest than to keep buying old batteries with worse tech. Looking at Dewalt Power Tools, you don't see many contractors using 8v, 14.4v, 18v, 36v, or 24v tools. Everyones off to 20v & 60v.

 

Look out for package deals where you get a piece of equipment + battery. Usually they turn out to be not much more than just the battery alone. You can either keep the new updated equipment or resell for cheap to recoup some money.

 

if you consider a 7ah 36v battery costs about a nickel to recharge, you may find you come out ahead w electric long-term. With battery technology growing as fast as it is it should only be getting better and better.
Btw I've had Ego send me replacement batteries for a couple that stopped working or had charging issues. I like to register my products for this reason, and the more product you have the better service you tend to get. Not sure if Ryobi shares that same mindset but worth trying

 

I’m on the other side when it comes to battery powered lawn stuff. I think you come out ahead with gas. For a 2 cycle engine you aren’t really spending a lot on gas, $10-15 a year for gas and oil? You don’t really need to change the spark plug every year as a homeowner. I’ve had my Stihl gas powered equipment for well over 10 years without any issues and I might go through 5 gallons of gas in a year. Don’t get me wrong, I have 2 EGO blowers that I use but mainly for drying the cars off and blowing the mower off and for small little jobs that getting out the backpack blower would be overkill. I doubt you would get the longevity out of battery powered equipment that you get from gas. I would probably need to sit down and crunch the numbers to really see the ROI on battery equipment.

 

I have pretty much exclusively Ridgid 18V power tools and a few plug-ins but other than my EGO trimmer, I have all gas lawn equipment. I can't stand getting halfway through the lawn and needing to recharge. I also don't believe battery power is better for the environment. It takes quite a while to break even with the "carbon footprint" between producing a gas engine and a lithium battery. My wife prefers the EGO because it's lighter than my gas. I still see why people go for battery-powered equipment but I'll be sticking with gas and price has very little to do with it. My earlier comment was just to say $499 for 6 years isn't too bad if battery is your preference.

 

"I have pretty much exclusively Ridgid 18V power tools "

This spoils a guy. I'm still getting free batteries from the combo set I bought when Ridgid first went on sale @ HD. 20 some years ago. t's just lately they started having OPE. By then I had Milwaukee bought. Over the winter my 'ol lady pointed out the adapters available to use this battery in so and so's tools. So I bought one to use my Ridgid batteries in my Milwaukee OPE. I'll keep an eye out for any overheating or any odd terminal discoloration. Heck, it's worth it for me. More manufactures need to get on the "free battery/tools" for life. Most people are mostly brand/platform loyal and it makes sense to keep them in the fold, and buy THEIR tools when a person adds to their collection. You'd think the loss of battery sales would be offset by buying more of their stuff. I think the decision of batt vs is multifaceted for me. Gas is tried and true. The gas cost per year for an "average" yard is pretty reasonable. Properly maintained they'll last for quite some time. I fall down here. I'm mister "no time". I'm always behind. They are strong too. Battery has it's place too. Easy to pick up and use. Mostly quiet. Mama will actually pick up the weed eater and use it. Never used my Stihl brushcutter. I live semi rural. I don't hesitate to be out cutting up logs after dark with a battery saw. All you hear is the chain cutting. I go by a guy, in town, who is mowing his lawn as I go to work at 7:00ish in the morning. I hear nothing. So for me, its not a $$ thing. Of course I'm an auto tech. I have probably 6 or 8 10mm wrenches. Different styles, different uses. If I'm dropping a tree my big Stihl comes out. If I'm cutting logs, it the Milwaukee M18. Long winded answer I know.

 

Think using the same battery for all those tools cuts down on the cost a bit. But id surely think gas is cheaper in the long run, unless they get banned. If you do the yearly maintence on most power equipment id say its roughly $20 a year per tool, air filter, spark plug, oil for four strokes. I got roughly 6 gals for my mower last year. Maybe 1 to two gals for string trimmer and blower. I do think properly maintained quality gas equipment is good for roughly 20 years, maybe longer.

If you just compare the costs of your mower to a replacement $500 honda or toro mower then i think the answer is obvious to switch to gas, if your okay with the simple basic maintence yearly and disregard any envviromental arguments. But you have multiple tools with one battery so the equation is different. Yours lasted 6 years and a honda or toro may last 20 years with a $20/year maintence cost unless something goes wrong. But with all those tools your looking at 500 for a mower, 300ish for a string trimmer with an edger attachment, and 150 for a blower for the basic ones. Versus just 500 for a new battery. Maybe you could sell those electric tools without battery to offset costs a bit tho. Personal preference at the end of the day, but have to think gas is cheaper in the long run.

 

I am all in on electric except my cars. I think @MasterMech said it best, electric is not cheaper but to me at least its oh so convenient. I came to dread the start of a new lawn maintenance season because absolutely nothing worked; the blower would not start, it would be a race to see if the riding mower would start before the battery died, the edger needed constant fiddling, the chainsaw had all of its normal chainsaw problems on top of not wanting to start, and almost all of them needed me to try various carb sprays to get them going again.

Not to mention having to keep two stroke gas/oil mixtures and regular gas along with two stroke oil, chainsaw oil, trying not to spill any gas on the way back from the gas station, etc. etc. When the riding mower wouldn't start I would have to hitch up the trailer, find a mechanic, tow it there and back and turnaround times were starting to run into the 2-3 month range. For the other gas tools I didn't need the trailer but there was still the 2-3 month turnaround times.

In hindsight I realize I should have standardized on one reliable commercial grade brand like Stihl and only used non ethanol fuel, but there's no way I am going back. Every powered tool that I have is DeWalt (chainsaw, edger, weed eater, drill, various saws, etc.) and my riding mower is Ryobi. I have had the Ryobi riding mower for about 6yrs now and have had to repair it a few times; they were all simple electrical stuff that I could fix myself typically in less than an hour. And yes, at the 6yr mark the batteries in the riding mower now have substantially less capacity than they did 6yrs ago so I will probably need to spend another $1K USD to convert it over to a LiFePo4 system which I can do myself and which should last 10yrs.