Who is forcing you to do something?
If you live in California then you asked for it and deserve it.
I don't live in CA, but up until the last presidential election, the government was pushing the green agenda, led by CA. Even outside CA, EV's have government subsidies. Have you been to a Lowe's or Home Depot lately? There are way more battery mowers on the floor than ICE models. The government IS pushing this. Mandates is what's at the end of the path they're on. And what CA does often trickles to the rest of the country eventually. No, I'm not being forced to go battery powered yet, but the Democrats were clearly moving in that direction.
There are at least 10,000 ICE mowers out there for every electric so deals as you describe are more common. But also undermines your claim of ICE superiority by the fact someone is willing to unload what you claim to be easily fixable for so cheap.
I never said it was easy or cheap to repair. But it IS possible to get such a deal since: there are a lot of used ICE mowers out there, many have not been properly maintained, ICE engines, once repaired, retain their power levels and run times, and parts are still available. It was a commercial mower that had been ridden hard, and put away wet. It was a business asset that was sold and written off as a business expense. I SERIOUSLY doubt that any battery powered mowers on the market would have stood up as long as this one did. The parts of it that were broken make me think that it had been used like a bush hog. Every so often, I'll watch a review of a battery mower. They tend to be designed for light duty so they can be light. If you need more than a light duty mower, battery mowers are probably not for you. If you just need to mow 400 sq ft of lawn, then sure, a battery mower will work.
52” EGo zero turn with (6) 12Ah batteries, $6000, 4 hours per charge.
I hate to break it to you, but a 52" residential mower will not keep up with a 54" commercial mower. So I'll estimate that my yard would take 2hrs with that mower. 4hrs for both yards I mentioned. I checked that link. And then went to the EGo store to check battery prices. The 12Ah batteries are $500 ea. That $6000 mower has $3000 worth of batteries. So it's a $3000 mower with a $3000 fuel tank. So to do the 2 yards I mentioned, I'd need $3000 worth of batteries. Unless I wanted the batteries to last more than 3 yrs. If these batteries are run to empty every time, they will degrade much faster. It's better to have more capacity than needed. So if you need to mow for an hour, get 2 hrs of capacity, and run the batteries down to no lower than 50% every time. The batteries will last more than twice as long. Now I'm back to needing $6000 worth of batteries for my situation.
I kept mine because it is lighter, quieter, and very easy to keep fueled. Same reasons behind battery electric string trimmers, drills, and impact drivers. Have you noticed how mechanics rarely turn screws or bolts by hand in favor of a battery powered driver?
I'll agree that battery tools are quieter. Not sure about weight. I DO know that EV's weigh way more than their ICE counterparts. A Tesla Model 3 weighs more than an F150. My commercial mower is not designed for light weight. It's made with heavy gauge steel, and is designed to be used hard. Makes me wonder how the previous owner managed to abuse it so badly. As for battery hand tools, you must have missed that I have those. I admitted that battery powered tools make sense in some cases, but not in every case as the battery evangelists would have you believe.
One of the main differences between power hand tools and mowers is duty cycle. Duty cycle is the time on divided by the complete time duration. So if, when a tool is being used, it runs for 30 minutes every hour, that's 50% duty cycle. Hand power tools tend to get used at low duty cycles. I'd say that over the span of a work day, a hand tool gets 15 minutes of actual run time. I have a battery powered chainsaw (gas ones too). I've probably never used it for more than 5 minutes of actual run time in a day. A mower, however, gets used at 100% duty cycle. Once you engage the blades, it needs to put out power for 100% of the duration of the job. The problem, at least, for mowers (EV's too), is energy requirements. A tank of gasoline contains a HUGE amount of energy. It takes a LOT of batteries to match the energy content of a tank of gas.
Hopefully, they will continue to improve. I actually WANT them to improve. I'm an electrical engineer. I understand the advantages of electric motors and ICE's. Like I mentioned before, sometimes one is better than the other. If I want to go to the junk yard, and pull parts off vehicles, and I need a power tool, battery powered is the only option. I was at a Discount Tire recently, and they've gone to battery impact wrenches. If I want to mow an acre of grass, I want gas power. Battery powered mowers will eventually catch up, but they're not there yet, and I resent them being pushed on the market by the government. Let market forces decide which is best, like with battery hand tools.
