Currently they bring their own fuel to worksites. What happens when there's no outlet for them to plug into? There are large numbers of landscaping scenarios where this will be the case. Do they bring a diesel generator?
All of my yard tools, including my lawnmower, are electric. For reasons of both cost and power, I went with corded rather than battery powered. Battery tech is constantly improving and maybe at some point it will get to the point where it is viable for a yard like mine but for people who are doing a large number of properties per day, it's going to be quite a while.
Seems like the better interim solution would be making the small engines used by these tools emit less. This would of course increase the complexity and cost but seems like a better tradeoff than extension cords with large voltage drops, diesel generators, or lugging around half a dozen times more batteries than devices.
The Ford F-150 aims to solve that problem (and I guess other EVs will have / has similar capabilities).
> With an electric motor mounted on each of its axles, the vehicle will offer more torque — in effect, faster acceleration — than any previous F-150 and will be capable of towing up to 10,000 pounds. Its battery pack can power a home for about three days during an outage, according to Ford.
For contractors and other commercial truck users, the Lightning will be able to power electric saws, tools and lighting, potentially replacing or reducing the need for generators at work sites. It has up to 11 power outlets.
It seems like commercial should be granted an exemption here. It's just not realistic to run battery operated hand tools like it is if you are only maintaining one single family home sized lot for all the reasons you mentioned. Plus gardeners can repair and maintain their own gas powered tools themselves, can't do that with electronic equipment that is built to be disposed of rather than fixed.
Modern battery technology is way better than it used to be. Today, you can use the same battery you use to power your cordless drill to power radios, vacuum cleaners, circular saws/table saws, chainsaws, trimmers, and even lawnmowers. DeWalt's 20V MAX system in particular is pretty neat.
Electric equipment is just not practical or realistic for these landscaping operations where you are working 50-60 hours a week. They would have to replace batteries constantly as they get worn out from being constantly depleted and charging. Not to mention you would have to run your chargers off a generator in the truck bed anyhow, negating any green benefit since these things are noisy and pollute just as much as a hand tool. If they didn't need power offered by commercial grade gas equipment, they would be using cheaper handheld blowers rather than heavier and more expensive backpack models. Plus brands like STIHL are practically bulletproof in terms of reliability.
> Not to mention you would have to run your chargers off a generator in the truck bed anyhow, negating any green benefit since these things are noisy and pollute just as much as a hand tool.
One big engine is cleaner, more efficient, and quieter than a bunch of small 2-stroke engines.
Mountain_Skies|4 years ago
All of my yard tools, including my lawnmower, are electric. For reasons of both cost and power, I went with corded rather than battery powered. Battery tech is constantly improving and maybe at some point it will get to the point where it is viable for a yard like mine but for people who are doing a large number of properties per day, it's going to be quite a while.
Seems like the better interim solution would be making the small engines used by these tools emit less. This would of course increase the complexity and cost but seems like a better tradeoff than extension cords with large voltage drops, diesel generators, or lugging around half a dozen times more batteries than devices.
ToFab123|4 years ago
> With an electric motor mounted on each of its axles, the vehicle will offer more torque — in effect, faster acceleration — than any previous F-150 and will be capable of towing up to 10,000 pounds. Its battery pack can power a home for about three days during an outage, according to Ford. For contractors and other commercial truck users, the Lightning will be able to power electric saws, tools and lighting, potentially replacing or reducing the need for generators at work sites. It has up to 11 power outlets.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/business/ford-electric-ve...
dabbledash|4 years ago
Gas powered electric generators
asdff|4 years ago
teeray|4 years ago
mmcgaha|4 years ago
otterley|4 years ago
Ekaros|4 years ago
salawat|4 years ago
Nothing could possibly go wrong.
unknown|4 years ago
[deleted]
asdff|4 years ago
wtallis|4 years ago
One big engine is cleaner, more efficient, and quieter than a bunch of small 2-stroke engines.