Lawn mowers are staple part of the American homes, in Hollywood movies we often see lawn mowing scenes, testimony to its importance in American society. It also has its importance in British homes, the fact that it was invented by a British national, Edwin Budding from London.
Before lawn mowers established its place to American homes and the rest of the world, the primary purpose of its invention was to cut grasses in sports field, cemeteries and large gardens. (Martin Eberhard and Tarpenning, 2006).
However, finding the ease that it contributes to the cutting of grasses at homes yards, it became a popular household machine.
The first design of lawn mower was the steam-powered machine, the large-very noisy and less efficient type. In the course of time improvements were made, so, the electric type came wherein it is connected to an electric power source through a cord when operated.
There is limitation to the coverage of this type. It can only cut grasses up to where its cord can reach. So, the engine type was born. It is cordless.
It has a small 4-stroke or 2- stroke small engine powered yet is so powerful to turn the blades to cut grasses, this is what we call as the gas type lawn mowers because this type is powered by gasoline.
Just like in car engines, this machine is so powerful, and perfect for levelling tall grasses on wide fields like football stadium.
The problems with this type are the noise produced from the engine and carbon monoxide emissions from gasoline consumption.
For environmental and health reasons the latest type of lawn mowers which is the battery type was invented.
This type contains a battery to store the electrical energy or electricity from its source, and an electrical motor which turn the blades using the electricity from the battery.
Are battery-powered lawn mowers any good?
Battery-powered lawn mowers have some of its benefits or advantages. For one, it is suited for home lawn mowing. Although, it is not as powerful as the gas-powered mowers but it is powerful enough to cut the grasses of every home.
Still, it can be used for large scale lawn mowing as a support mower to flattened grasses at narrow corners. It is not limited in its coverage in home yard lawn mowing as it can be used even to the farthest corner of the yard having no cord to limit it.
It is neighbor friendly because it does not produce engine noise as it has no engine, the only noise it will produce is the rotations of the blades which are minimal noise.
It is very light as compared to other types as it contains only a battery and a motor, it contains no long cords and engines that could contribute to the weight of the lawn mowers.
Another is, it does not emit carbon monoxide to the environment. It is generally clean as there is no need to pour gasoline or any lubricating engine oil, no used engine-oils shall be produced.
In other words, battery-powered mowers are a perfect fit to the name portable mowers, very handy, safe and efficient.
How long does a battery-powered lawn mower last?
Battery-powered lawn mowers life-span would solely depend on its battery life. The pursuit of developing a battery storage system where it can be reused for a duration of time has been fruitful.
In one study in the United States of America on a certain manufactured battery-powered land mower, it was recorded that a 19-inch lawn mower weighing 76lbs, powered by a 24 Volts lead acid battery supplying a 5 Brake Horse Power (BHP) operating on a half to one acre of land, will complete the cutting of grass in about forty to ninety minutes.
Charging time for this operation will take 4-16 hours depending on the completeness of charging. At these conditions of operation, it was observed that the life span of the battery was 4.5 years (Sivaraman and Lindner, 2004).
Basing on that study, several factors will determine how long will the battery last, particularly, the area of grasses to be cut, the time of charging the battery, the frequency of charging the battery, the weight of the mower, and the height and thickness of the grasses.
The last two items are very important because it contribute a lot to the friction that it will cause against the blades of the mowers, in the process it will account to power loss. This can also contribute to the lowering of the life span of the battery.
Why does a lawn mower battery die out over and over again?
One disadvantage of battery-powered lawn mowers is that it is solely reliant on the amount of energy stored or supplied by the battery on its operation. Thus, condition of the battery will determine the performance of the lawn mower.
Theoretically, the success of operation can be scheduled or planned, provided that every component especially the battery is 100% ready and perfectly functioning. Die out occurs when battery is not fully charged, like only 30% of its capacity is charged.
Hence, for a certain operation as mentioned previously and for a 90-min cutting of grasses, it would take 16 hours fully-charged battery to complete the job. By inference or ratio and proportion, if the charging took only 4 hours, then, it would perform only about 20.5 mins part of the job.
To complete the rest of the cutting operation, the battery must be recharged again and again until the task is completed. Die out can also be caused by battery leakages through cracks and other battery defects.
As chemical substances and materials inside the battery are responsible for storing those electrical energy in the form of chemical energy in chemical substance, leakages will result to loss of those energy, thus, resulting to die outs also.
Are battery operated lawn mowers safe?
I would say that battery operated lawn mowers are the safest type of the lawn mowers. We always measure safety against immediate risks, danger or threats.
Most of the dangers or accidents attributed to lawn mowers have something to do with running corded mowers losing control resulting to injuries. With a cordless battery-powered lawn mowers, dangers due to the cords will be eliminated.
Likewise, battery-operated mowers are lighter as compared to gas operated ones. Ergo, fractures and muscles stress are less likely to occur with battery-operated lawn mowers.
It is neighbor-friendly because it not so noisy. Most misunderstanding also comes from lawn mowing noises produced by the lawn mowers. This is avoided in a battery-operated lawn mower.
As the battery-operated lawn mowers does not use gasoline and other lubricating oils, it does not involve the process of internal combustion. Hence, it will not emit carbon monoxide and other air pollutants to the environment.
It cannot contribute to the destruction of the ozone layers; it will not cause to lung diseases or to any skin diseases. Battery-operated lawn mowers, as well, are generally less powerful than a gas-powered lawn mowers. The danger that comes with its operation will also be proportionately lesser.
What is better gas or battery lawn mower?
Each type of lawn mowers has its own advantages and disadvantages. Yet, the usage of lawn mowers now has definitely departed from its primary purpose of its invention.
It completely evolved into a household yard lawn mowing device, different from where it was contemplated as tall grasses cutting machine for large fields, cemeteries and large gardens of London.
It has become a very important part of every home. It is for this reason that I will base my view of which is better between the gas operated lawn mower or the battery-operated lawn mower.
I would say that battery-operated lawn mower being more handy is better because it can be carried easily, and it can be operated even at narrow and covered corners because its smaller in size.
It is better since it possesses just sufficient power to operate the task. The reason being is that the power of the battery is fixed.
It is better because it is easy to maintain considering that it contains no engine to be filled with hydrocarbon fuels. It is better owing to the fact that it emits zero air pollutants to the surrounding.
It only needs to be charged in a charging system, whether in homes or charging centers. Of course, die outs are inevitable.
However, this can be avoided by keeping tabs with the details of the battery religiously since we already know the capacity and life span of such battery.
Final thoughts
The invention of battery lawn mowers is beneficial to people nd households, as they will eliminate the use of hydrocarbon fuels which are very destructive to nature and health. Hydrocarbon fuels have been destroying people’s lungs and skins.
It is also destroying our ozone layer. It is the duty of every one to determine the ways and means to develop technology to make our lives better and comfortable, yet, to balance it with the people’s welfare including health, and our obligation e protect nature.
Lawn mowers are one of the essential machines in every house of some countries. It cannot be ignored that there are so many of these sold commercially throughout the world, as the need are so great.
It is important for the manufacturers to understand and to be reminded that they also have the duty and obligation to present products which are favorable to the lives of the people.
The bulk of the demand for lawn mowers has always been to household lawn mowing and not to large scale.
Why expose our homes to the dangers of gas operated lawn mowers when we already have this latest technology of battery-operated lawn mowers. We each have our choice; I chose the battery-operated ones for all its wonderful qualities and benefits.
