Best Electric Lawn Mowers in 2023

What is an electric lawn mower?

The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is well underway and it’s not happening by accident. There are a lot of reasons you’re starting to see more EVs on the road, these include:

• Environmental - Car shoppers that are cognizant of their carbon footprint no longer want to use fossil fuels to power their vehicle. While electric vehicles do use power from the grid, the emissions are much lower than from gasoline burning.
• Growth in Solar Adoption - More and more people are installing solar, allowing them to generate their own electricity and power their vehicle cheaply as a result. 
• Financial Savings - The cost per mile traveled and overall cost of ownership is lower with EVs, saving consumers money. 
• Improved Technology - Enhancements in battery technology now allow people to do multiple days of commuting in an EV on just one charge. For many, that’s enough to consider EVs as viable alternatives to traditional vehicles. 

But automobiles aren’t the only devices making a switch to electric. For many of the same reasons noted above, everything else in your garage that once required the right combination of gasoline and engine oil are now available in electric versions instead. Whether it’s a lawn mower, snow blower, leaf blower, or trimmer, if you don’t want to prime up an engine and yank a starter rope, you don’t have to anymore. Instead, you can simply plug a charged battery into your device and get to work! 

The reviews below are for electric lawn mowers, but the features to consider and the benefits described can apply to many other electric lawn tools. 

Why buy an electric lawn mower? 

Good for the Environment 

The EPA estimates that more than 800 million gallons of fossil fuels are burned in the U.S. because of lawn equipment each year. As anyone that’s struggled to lift up a gas can and hold a funnel steady knows, lawn equipment doesn’t just pollute the air. The EPA also estimated that over 17 million gallons of gas is spilled as the equipment is refueled each year, polluting our ground water too.

Solar + electric equipment = savings

Depending on gas and electricity prices, electric lawn equipment may save you money. If you have solar panels installed, the savings are almost guaranteed. If you time it right, your lawn mower and other pieces of equipment can be charged by the excess energy your panels are producing. You’ll save money on gas and your lawn tools will be purely powered by the sun. 

Convenience

There are a lot of reasons why electric equipment may be convenient, including:

• Simple refueling - You can throw away the funnel you’ve long used for filling up the numerous gas tanks around your garage. Most pieces of electric equipment need only a charged battery that is easy to swap in and out. In addition, there’s no need to worry about the correct oil to gasoline ratio.
• Easy starting - Electric equipment starts with a click of a button. No priming, no choking, and fortunately, no starter rope. 
• Portability - In most models, a battery replaces an engine, which significantly reduces the weight of the equipment. As it gets lighter, it gets more portable. In addition, many electric lawn mower models fold up like a stroller, which will conveniently save you some room in your garage. 
• Reduced noise - Electric lawn mowers make much less noise than their gasoline powered counterparts. If you’re an early riser but you hesitate to mow in the morning out of respect to your neighbors, this could be a big selling point. 
   

What electric lawn mower features are important to consider? 

Battery life

Most product listings will provide the expected cut time on one charge, but it will still be useful to know whether the equipment uses one battery or two, their physical size, and how fast the battery will charge. 

Compatibility

Electric lawn mower manufacturers generally consider the lawn mower to be just one piece of equipment out of a full suite of electric lawn product offerings. A manufacturer typically makes one battery that is compatible with all of their other equipment, but manufacturers won’t necessarily make every type of existing equipment. If you have a specific tool you would like to complement your lawn mower, double check that the manufacturer makes that additional item you plan to buy. 

Corded vs. cordless 

It is important to note that your switch to electric doesn’t have to include a battery. If you have a small yard and don’t need as much mobility, corded equipment can still be a good option. 

Standard features 

You shouldn’t have to sacrifice quality to switch to electric. In addition to an electric lawn mower’s new capabilities, the product’s standard features will still be important. Do you care about a mulching feature? Does blade size matter to you? There are a lot of electric models out there and you’ll want to make sure you’ve considered these features as well. 

Voltage vs. amp hours (Ah)

The easiest way to think about volts and amp hours is that increasing volts will allow more raw power. Increasing amp hours will allow you to use your equipment for longer on one charge.