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The 9 Best Electric Lawn Mowers For a Trim Lawn in 2024
These cordless cutters are powerful, convenient, and (relatively) quiet.
A lawn mower, whether powered by a gas engine or a battery and electric motor, is more than a just grass cutter. Mowing your lawn is great exercise, so a mower is sort of an exercise machine. A mower is a money saver. Compared to hiring a landscaper to cut your lawn, the typical walk-behind lawn mower will pay for itself by the end of the first season. Finally, it’s a maintenance machine. Leaves fall on the grass, trees drop seed pods, and weeds constantly encroach on your lawn. Your mower helps you keep it all under control.
Electric lawn mowers accomplish these tasks essentially the same way as gas-powered mowers do, except with an electric motor and batteries in place of a gas engine. The configuration of today's battery mowers is virtually indistinguishable from what you're probably used to with a lawn mower. The batteries used today enable sometimes an hour or more of runtime on a full charge. Perhaps a gas mower would be better if you have a lot of mowing to do, but if you have that much grass to cut, you're probably looking at a riding mower anyway, and there are some great batter-powered options in that segment also.
Finding the best electric lawn mower can be a little complicated. There are functions, power, controls, and a wide variety of features. Popular Mechanics has been testing lawn mowers for a long time, so we can help you find the best electric lawn mower–the one that best fits your yard care needs and your budget.
The Best Electric Lawn Mowers
- Best Overall: Ego LM2150SP Cordless Mower
- Best Value: Echo DLM2100 SP Electric Lawn Mower
- Durable and Easy-to-Use: Ryobi RY401150US Self-Propelled Electric Mower
- Best Lawn Striper: Toro 6123 Stripe Dual-blade Self-Propelled Mower
- Cleanest Cut: Toro 21466 Recycler Lithium-Ion Electric Mower
The Expert (Roy Berendsohn): As senior test editor here at Popular Mechanics, I’ve been building, tweaking and trying tools for more than 35 years, including lawn machines. In fact, I have more than 50 years of experience operating mowers, and have tested everything from old-fashioned reel mowers that are entirely human powered to diesel-engine commercial mowers–and everything in between. I’ve seen the advent of entirely new product categories, including battery powered walk-behind mowers and zero-turn riding mowers. I’d like to know how many miles I’ve walked testing mowers. On second thought, I’d rather not know.
The Expert (Colin Aylesworth): I’m a Popular Mechanics Deputy Editor who, separately, happens to have several years of lawn mower repair experience. It started by simply fixing my own, but over time I’ve grown into a full-blown lawn machine repairman, fixing mowers as a hobby and side hustle. I’ve repaired dozens of lawn mowers over the years, mostly gas-powered models, but joining PM has given me more opportunities to test and work with battery-powered mowers as well.
What to Consider in an Electric Lawn Mower
An electric mower can range from a small and simple, stripped-down device that is little more than a blade, motor, deck and wheels to a fairly sophisticated machine that propels itself over the lawn’s surface, leaving a velvet-like surface in its wake. Of course, you pay for mower size, power and features. The more of those you want, the more expensive the mower. Here are the functions and components that can make or break an electric lawn mower.
Deck Width
The deck diameter of your lawn mower dictates how wide a swath it cuts as it passes over the grass. Generally speaking, a wider deck makes for a more efficient mowing experience: The wider the deck, the fewer passes you make to cut a given area of lawn. That said, there’s a tradeoff. Small mowers are lighter and more maneuverable, which may make a difference to you as you park the mower in the shed or the garage.
Electric mowers run the gamut, from 14- to 30-inches wide. The average mower features a deck between 20- and 22 inches wide. In the end, you should pick your mower based on how you like to mow and your storage options.
Mowing Functions
Mowers cut grass one of three ways. They mulch, they bag, or they discharge grass clippings out the side. Most mowers will mulch and bag, but only a few will do all three. There are also some basic mowers that only mulch or only discharge.
Mulch: The mower cuts the grass into particles that swirl around inside the deck and are recut into increasingly smaller particles. These highly processed clipping simply fall back to the ground as you pass over them. When you redistribute those particles back over your lawn, they release nitrogen as they decompose, fertilizing the soil.
However, you can only mulch normal-height grass–typically about 4- to 6 inches–and only when it is no more than moist. Trying to mulch wet, tall grass will make a mess of your lawn and your mower. The grass clippings will accumulate on the mower deck, clogging it. The clippings that escape will collect as clumps on the lawn. When following proper mowing technique (never cutting more than a third of the height off grass at a time) and with a sharp blade, mulched grass should be difficult to see on a finished lawn, and certainly not clumpy.
Side-discharge: Side-discharge mowers have a port and chute on the side of the deck (sometimes the chute is fixed, but in many modern mowers it is removable and the port can be closed for mulching or bagging), allowing you to shoot your grass clippings out the side as you mow, similar to how snow blowers throw snow. A small number of mowers place the discharge port on the back of the deck, and use a plastic chute to direct the grass clippings to the side.
Discharging your clippings is ideal if you're dealing with tall, wet grass, or looking to mulch leaves in the fall.
Bag: The vast majority of mowers come with a grass bag to collect grass clippings. If you want your lawn to have the cleanest finished appearance, it’s helpful to collect your clippings as you go. In the fall, the bag also helps you remove leaves from the lawn.
Of course, you’ll have to do something with those clippings. If you dump them at the edge of your property without composting them properly, you’re going to end up with a big, moldy rotting pile of grass somewhere. If you know how to compost, bagging the clippings produces a neat lawn, and raw material for great compost.
Note that some mowers have better designed bag mounting than others. The design that is the easiest to handle allows you to place and remove the bag through the space between the handlebars.
Self-propelled or Push
There are only two ways to propel a mower over your lawn. Either you push it, or the mower pushes itself.
Push mowers are perfectly viable for smaller lawns–let’s say somewhere in the vicinity of a few thousand square feet of grass. They’re lightweight, inexpensive and mechanically simple.
Self-propelled lawn mowers are a little more complicated, but make your life easier. They feature a small drive motor, which powers an axle at the front or rear of the mower. They’re great for cutting big lawns and climbing tall hills, especially if you need to propel the mower while its grass bag is full.
Most self-propelled mowers feature rear-wheel drive. Front-wheel drive mowers, while relatively rare, offer more maneuverability, which helps when you need to cut around obstacles and pivot the mower in a tight spot. With front-wheel drive mowers, you just push down on the handle and pivot the mower while lifting the front drive wheels off the ground, where they spin freely as you sweep out the cut area.
Controls
Ground speed control: Self-propelled mowers feature a wide array of mechanisms for controlling ground speed. Some automatically adjust to match your walking speed, or you may need to push down and release a lever to speed up and slow down.
There are probably half a dozen different ways that manufacturers handle this feature, and none of them are universally better or worse than the others. You need to decide what feels right for you. For example, if you have strong hands, maybe you’re good with speed control via a thumb lever on the handle. If your hands are not very strong, maybe a mower with self-adjusting ground speed is a better fit.
Handle length: Some lawn mowers allow you to adjust their handle length by simply telescoping in and out and locking it in place, or by adjusting the angle of the handle. The more people you have using the mower, the more important it is that you can easily adjust the handle.
Deck height: If you face challenging mowing conditions such as rough ground, tall or varying heights of grass, or heavy foliage, then you want to make sure that it’s easy to adjust the deck of your mower, so you can adjust to varying conditions.
Most mowers come equipped with one, two, or four levers to adjust deck height. Single-lever deck height adjustment is the easiest method (and an expensive upgrade) that is typically a spring-loaded mechanism. Simply moving this one lever up and down will adjust the deck evenly at all four corners. Two-lever mowers simply adjust the height of the front and rear axles. Four-lever mowers adjust each wheel where it attaches to the deck.
The more adjustability you need in your mower (especially if you need it on a weekly basis), the more you need to pay attention to this feature. If your ground is smooth and your mowing conditions are not particularly rugged, you may end up adjusting the deck height once when you first purchase the mower and never touch it again.
How We Selected The Best Electric Lawn Mowers
Of the many dozens of mowers available, it’s perfectly sensible to wonder why we selected these. People have diverse mowing needs, from tidy little patches of grass to rough-and-tumble rural properties. We anticipate these varying needs by testing accordingly.
Our specimen grasses vary from soft and thick bluegrass and fine fescues, to perennial ryes that are a bit more wiry. We mow flats, washboard surfaces, uphill, downhill, and sidehill. We mow tall grass and weeds. We cut areas that are immaculate and we mow the rim of a retention basin, and a humongous rough area that is under the flight path to a small airport. Every feature and accessory on every machine gets a thorough workout. We mulch, bag, and side discharge. We raise and lower decks, check the controls for their comfort and whether they are intuitive. Anybody should be able to get behind any mower and use it safely without a lot of instruction.
We also check for a neatly mowed surface. We cut a section and lie on the grass and sight along the top of the surface of the grass to get a better sense of the finished product.
Some models in this test, including the Worx 14-inch 40-volt and Toro eTimeMaster, have not yet been put through our battery of tests. We included these picks based on our knowledge of these brands and their products, as well as our general knowledge of the mower market and its shoppers.
Ego LM2150SP Cordless Lawn Mower
Pros
- X-shaped blade for smooth cut
- Excellent bagger
- Great battery life
Cons
- Battery sold separately
Several features allowed the Ego to clinch Best Overall, no small achievement in our mower tests. First is its outstanding cut quality. Healthy grass looks like velvet after it has been mowed with the EGO. Even when the mower is used in mulching mode, we did not find clumps of accumulated clippings after the mower was finished (it's important to specify here that these tests were performed on dry grass).
We attribute that cut quality to the X-shaped blade (a design developed decades ago on Honda's gas engine mowers) and to the smooth and unobstructed deck surface surrounding the blade.
This mower is also an excellent bagger, gathering pounds more grass per square foot of test area than most mowers. You have to be aware of that when operating this mower. Its bag will fill more quickly than you might think.
Although we spend most of our time testing mowers in mulch mode, we recognize that bagging is particularly important to people who have a lot of foot traffic in parts of the yard and want to prevent grass clippings from getting dragged into the house, garage, or onto patios. If that's you, the Ego is probably a good fit.
Like many battery mowers today, the Ego is equipped with an all-plastic deck that will never rust, and a tilt-forward handle that also telescopically adjusts to suit the user’s height. To make it even easier to use, it has single-lever deck height adjustment with a large T-shaped handle. This mower also has one of the better speed-control mechanisms we’ve seen–a simple dial that you rotate forward and back.
Since this model is sold without a battery and charger, it’s up to you how large of a battery to get for it. Ego recommends a battery with a minimum of 7.5-Ah (ampere hours) of capacity, and that’s what we used to arrive at the cut area you see below. You can easily do better than that with a larger battery such as the company's 10-Ah, a whopper of a power pack.
Given that the Ego's motor and drive system are both quite efficient, enabling it to accomplish nearly 1500 square feet of mowed surface per amp hour of battery capacity, that would translate to nearly 15,000 square feet of mowed surface with such a large battery. That's a lot of lawn. With a 10-Ah battery, the manufacturer estimates run time as 75 minutes. That strikes us as plausible, particularly on level ground, in mulching mode.
With decades of mower testing behind us, we've seen just about every type of drive control imaginable. It's difficult for us to assess these, since what one person finds comfortable someone else may not. We found the Ego's dial-adjusted speed control (the company calls it Touch Drive) to be simple and intuitive. Move the dial forward with your left or right thumb to increase speed. Move it back to decrease. The slowest speed is a leisurely pace (.9 mph), the top speed requires a comfortably-fast walk.
The Ego is powerful, fun to operate, and cuts so well—it's difficult to find anything to complain about. We suppose its big batteries could use a handle but at least they are well shaped and have a lot of rubber-coated surface, to promote a good grip.
Key Specs
| Voltage | 56 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 53 lb with two 2-Ah battery |
| Cut area per charge | 11,019 sq ft |
| Deck width | 21 in. |
Echo DLM 2100SP Electric Lawn Mower
Echo DLM 2100SP Electric Lawn Mower
Pros
- Sharp cut
- Great bagging
Cons
- Heavy, given its simple feature-set
The Echo DLM is a rugged self-propelled workhorse built to cut grass. Echo, headquartered in the Midwest, is well known for building such equipment. It’s been doing this for decades, and we’ve got decades of experience testing this brand .
This 56-volt mower delivers an exceptional cut, some of the best bagging in this test, and simple operation. We mulched, side discharged and bagged with the Echo, and it passed each test handily, also climbing hills and slogging through tall grass and weeds. It comes with a 5-Ah battery and a bay for a second battery, if you want to extend its run time (also a great incentive to buy one of Echo's other superb battery-powered machines).
Simply put, the Echo is a great mower.
Key Specs
| Voltage | 56 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 71 lb with one 5-Ah battery |
| Cut area per charge | 7,372 sq ft |
| Deck width | 21 in. |
Ryobi RY401150US Self-Propelled Electric Mower
Ryobi RY401150US Self-Propelled Electric Mower
Pros
- Made in the U.S.A.
- Dual 6 Ah batteries
- Strong performance on hills
Cons
This is Ryobi’s top-of-the-line mower, and its American-made construction is something we wish we saw more of. It delivers a tremendous cut area with its two 6-Ah batteries, providing a total of 12 Ah of capacity,. Its X-shaped blade leaves a pristine surface in its wake.
Ryobi estimates the design should provide 70 minutes of run time; we didn’t time our cut, but it strikes as plausible. Its rear-wheel drive and reasonably aggressive tire tread pattern provide good hill climbing and sidehill cutting performance, and its bagging on all surfaces (level, sidehill, and uphill) is also commendable.
Other ease-of-use features include an easily installed or removed bag that mounts and dismounts straight up and down through the handle; deck adjustment is quick and easy thanks to a single-lever deck height adjustment. The straight edge deck is polypropylene; it will never rust and needs very little care other than basic cleaning.
Key Specs
| Voltage | 40 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 75.8 lb (with two 6-Ah batteries) |
| Cut area per charge | 15,292 sq ft |
| Deck width | 21 in. |
Toro 21623 Stripe Dual-Blades Self-Propelled Mower
Toro 21623 Stripe Dual-Blades Self-Propelled Mower
Pros
- Delivers prominent lawn stripe
- Large battery with handle
Cons
Every mower, to one extent or another, delivers lawn striping as it cuts, but if you want to emphasize the stripe, Toro built this mower for you. The Toro left stripes that were conspicuous compared to the test zones for other mowers. It accomplishes this with a 3/4-inch-diameter steel roller at the rear of the mower and an X-shaped mulching blade. The two work in tandem to deliver a razor-smooth cut and a velvet-like stripe.
It also features two-lever height adjustment, a massive 7.5-Ah battery complete with a handle (we wish other big batteries had that), and the same fold-forward handle with stand-on-end design that Toro pioneered. Every single Toro mower that we’ve ever tested has been a superb grass cutter, and this one continues that long tradition. It’s an unbroken winning streak, or in this case, a stripe.
Key Specs
| Voltage | 60 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 55.8 lb with one 7.5-Ah battery |
| Cut area per charge | 10,290 sq ft |
| Deck width | 21 in. |
Toro 21466 Recycler Lithium-Ion Electric Mower
Pros
- Excellent cut quality
- Efficient mulching and bagging
Cons
- A bit heavy
Toro mowers have garnered more recommendations from us than any other brand for two reasons: build quality and cut quality. And those were amply demonstrated in our testing of the 21466 Recycler. It turned in the best ratio of cut area per amp-hour of battery by far in the self-propelled category–a whopping 2,254 square feet of mowed surface per amp hour of battery capacity.
To put that in perspective, the Ego came in at 1,469 square feet per amp hour and the Ryobi was 1,274 square feet per amp hour. So not only is the Toro a highly efficient mower, it accomplishes this while turning in incredible cutting, mulching, and bagging performance.
We attribute this outstanding mower performance to three features, all upgrades to the previous version of this machine. First, the air vent at the front of the mower deck seems to improve mulching and bagging performance. Toro calls it Vortex technology, a design to increase air flow in the same way as a hood scoop on a car. The company says it helps the grass stand straighter under the mower and the clippings to be suspended longer for more thorough mulching, but it also helps airflow into the bag. We can’t verify that, but we can say our results indicate the design is successful.
Next, the company’s redesigned “Atomic” blade configuration appears to assist the air flow and clipping movement. Finally, the three-phase, 60-volt motor is exceptionally efficient, resulting in a large cut area for a single battery.
Toro has, wisely, not altered some of the previous features that make this mower work: rear wheel drive, a one-piece deck that’s all steel (no plastic nose), rear-wheel drive, 11-inch wheels to help it roll over roots and crevices, and the same fold-forward handle that was an industry breakthrough when it was introduced years ago.
Key Specs
| Voltage | 60 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 80.4 lb with 6-Ah battery |
| Cut area per charge | 13,524 sq ft |
| Deck width | 22 in. |
Craftsman CMCMW220 Push Battery Mower
Craftsman CMCMW220 Push Battery Mower
Pros
- Dual 9aH batteries
- Lightweight
- Quiet and easy to clean
Cons
- Some clumping with wet grass
- Not the most powerful
Craftsman’s secret to its humongous cut area is simple: put two gigantic 9-Ah batteries on a light mower with a light blade and omit the drive (remember, this is a push mower, not self propelled). The result is that every bit of its battery capacity goes into cut area and run time (almost exactly 90 minutes!).
This push mower is light (36.6 pounds with the batteries and bag) and it’s light duty in a pleasing way. Remove the batteries and the bag, and it weighs slightly more than 30 pounds. It’s small enough and light enough you can put it on a shelf when you’re done or for storage during the off season.
The Craftsman is a middle of the road machine in terms of its bagging capability. It mulches better than it bags, we found, and the quality of its cut surface is quite good, although we did notice some clumping when the grass was tall and moist (when the grass dried out later in the day, the Craftsman's mulching performance was as good as any other mower).
On the other hand, we were surprised at its spunkiness with the deck set up high and its side discharge chute in place. No, this isn’t a gas engine mower. You won’t use it to knock down weeds in an overgrown yard. On the other hand, compared to a gas engine mower it’s almost vacuum cleaner quiet, and it’s pleasant to use with an all-plastic deck that’s easy to clean.
Finally, it comes as a kit. You get mower, bag, discharge chute, charger, and a pair of batteries that fit any other Craftsman 20-volt tool. It’s a winner for folks that need a small mower.
Key Specs
| Voltage | 20 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 57 lb with two 5-Ah batteries |
| Cut area per charge | 16, 321 sq ft |
| Deck width | 20 in. |
Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322 Battery-Powered Lawn Mower
Husqvarna Lawn Xpert LE-322 Battery-Powered Lawn Mower
Pros
- Efficient bagger
- Moves fast
Cons
- Great range of self-propelled speeds
You may be tired of hearing claims that battery mowers deliver gas engine performance, but Husqvarna’s mower is bringing that all-encompassing claim closer to the truth. That's especially true in the respect that the Husqvarna bagged very effectively. It collected 9.8 pounds of clippings from its test area, more than twice the amount that many other mowers would collect, and still more than other top baggers, such as the Ego and the Echo, both of which pulled in 8 pounds.
The Husqvarna is a ruggedly built steel-deck mower that weighs 80 pounds with one battery and its bag in place. It cuts and mulches beautifully. It was the fastest mower in terms of its top ground speed (4 mph); push its ground speed control to full forward and you almost have to trot to keep up with it. The slowest setting is a leisurely walk.
Three electronic modes on the touch-control panel help you manage cutting conditions: Sensing automatically adjusts motor speed up and down to suit grass height. The Mulching setting is suitable for average cutting conditions, and Max Power is reserved for tall grass. We couldn’t verify the company’s claimed run time of 75 minutes, but based on our experience that seems plausible when the mower is equipped with two batteries. It has two battery bays and is sold with a single 7.5-Ah power pack.
Key Specs
| Voltage | 40 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 80.6 lb with one 7.5-Ah battery |
| Cut area per charge | 4,795 sq ft |
| Deck width | 21 in. |
Toro 60V Max eTimeMaster Mower
Toro 60V Max eTimeMaster Mower
Pros
- Wide cutting deck helps minimize mowing time
- Intuitive self-propel system
Cons
- Tricky to maneuver around tight areas
If you have a lot of ground to cover, but prefer a walk-behind mower over a riding one, Toro’s eTimeMaster is one of your best bets. Toro has been building a gas-powered TimeMaster for a number of years, giving homeowners rare access to the kind of wide-cut, walk-behind mower that is normally reserved for commercial-grade machines. It also has plenty of experience with electric lawn mowers, but has only recently brought the two concepts together.
The eTimeMaster combines Toro’s steel 30-inch cutting deck with its 60-volt battery architecture, which can cut up to an acre without charging if you buy an extra battery pack. The mower comes with two batteries out of the box, but the battery bay that can hold three at once.
As with any TimeMaster, the electric version features a wide, dual-blade cutting deck that can cut more grass with each pass, trimming down your cutting time. It also features Toro’s “Personal Pace” rear-wheel drive self-propel system: Push forward on the spring-actuated handlebar, and the mower will move forward on its own. The more pressure you put on the handle, the faster the mower will go.
This system may have a bit of a learning curve if you’re used to mowers with a bar or handle that you squeeze to self-propel, but we’ve tested other Toro mowers with this system and found that it’s fairly intuitive after a couple passes. Personal Pace is best-suited to long, straight stretches: If you have to frequently turn around trees or other obstacles, the system can make maneuvering the mower somewhat cumbersome.
The eTimeMaster can mulch, discharge, or bag, and the bag is larger than you get with most walk-behind mowers, so you won’t have to stop and empty your clippings more often just because you have a larger deck. If you want to cut down on the time you spend mowing your lawn, but don’t want a riding lawn mower, this is a great option.
We have not put this mower through our full battery of tests yet, but we’ve been impressed with Toro’s other efforts with both its 60-volt battery system and the TimeMaster platform in general.
Key Specs
| Voltage | 60 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 152 lb |
| Cut area per charge | 43,560 sq ft (estimated, with extra battery) |
| Deck width | 30 in. |
Worx WG779 40V Power Share 14-Inch Cordless Lawn Mower
Worx WG779 40V Power Share 14-Inch Cordless Lawn Mower
Pros
- Light and maneuverable
- More compact than most mowers
Cons
- Small size limits work capacity
The Worx WG779 is notably small, which makes it ideal for anyone who has a small lawn to mow, or needs a walk-behind to trim around trees and garden beds. Its 14-inch cutting deck is certainly smaller than you’ll find on most other mowers, but it makes up for it with a compact design that’s easy to store in your shed or garage. Its small stature also makes it lightweight: At just 29 pounds, it’s lighter and easier to maneuver than most mowers we’ve tested.
With this mower, you can mulch or bag your clippings. It also features a power-adjustment setting, letting you increase the power if you need to get through thick grass, or lower it if you’re doing maintenance trimming and want to conserve battery power.
The WG779 has its limitations: It is not made for large lawns or intensive grass cutting. That said, it is definitely worth a look if you have a small lawn or just need something small and light for precise trimming.
Key Specs
| Voltage | 40 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 29 lb |
| Cut area per charge | 5,445 sq ft (estimated) |
| Deck width | 14 in. |
Q+A With Senior Test Editor Roy Berendsohn
What’s more important, run time or power?
You really don’t have to choose! You can always extend your mower’s run time by swapping in an extra battery (or another pair of batteries if your mower needs two at a time.) Having a longer run time can be helpful if your lawn is just the right size, but mower batteries are easy to replace, so you shouldn’t hesitate to swap ‘em in mid-job.
Meanwhile, all but the lightest and smallest battery mowers today offer enough power to cut the average lawn. If you feel like you need more power, you can look for a mower with a higher voltage motor.
Before you take that step, though, I advise that you should look at how you mow. Raising the deck to its fullest height position will help you handle tall grass, especially with a three-function mower (bag, mulch, side discharge). Use the side-discharge chute to handle tall grass or mulching up leaves.
Do gas engine mowers have better bagging performance than electric ones?
No. While early electric mowers were under-powered for optimal bagging, newer models bag just as well as gas engine mowers. (Especially if you spring for a high-end home or commercial model.)
Again, watch how you mow. Any mower (gas or electric) may have difficulty bagging when there is a thick leaf cover, or the grass is tall and moist. Also, some manufacturers offer blades specifically for bagging or mulching. If bagging is important to you, select a mower where the manufacturer offers a blade for optimal bagging and other features, such as a high-filtration (dust blocking) bag.
My battery mower cuts out when the going gets tough. Why?
Most likely, you’re tripping the mower’s thermal overload feature. All high-end electric mowers feature software that monitors the temperature of the motor and the battery. To keep these essential components from overheating and damaging themselves, your mower may shut down or slow down significantly if it gets too hot. (It happens in small electronics, too, like smartphones.)
If your mower starts shutting down more frequently, there are several steps you can take to make it more energy efficient.
- First, make sure the mower blade is sharp. A sharp blade puts less strain on the motor and battery.
- When cutting tall or damp grass, raise the deck height so the mower is taking a more shallow cut.
- Ensure that the deck is clean and unobstructed.
- When cutting tall grass, consider using side-discharge mode. Make a second pass after the discharged clippings have dried, and mulch them up or bag them.
- Make partial-width passes, rather than using the full deck. This is particularly important when mowing in unusually severe conditions, where the grass is tall and moist, there is leaf cover in autumn, or when doing maintenance mowing on non-turf grasses and weeds (on non-lawn areas and down fence rows).
Roy Berendsohn has worked for more than 25 years at Popular Mechanics, where he has written on carpentry, masonry, painting, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, blacksmithing, welding, lawn care, chainsaw use, and outdoor power equipment. When he’s not working on his own house, he volunteers with Sovereign Grace Church doing home repair for families in rural, suburban and urban locations throughout central and southern New Jersey.
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