"I want to be environmentally friendly"

Well in that case you probably would be wise to use a conventional gas powered mower. How do you suppose the electricity you use is generated? And since those electric plants must provide for unexpected load, they always are running at a "waste" rate. Plus the lose of efficiency thru lost heat, transmission and finally mechanical loss.

Walt Conner

A few acres!! It is not practical to go electric. Either you have such a long wire or you have to have multiple mowers charged up to do the job!!! Few acres, I question whether a normal 21" is even good enough!!! You might need a ZTR or something big!!!

I can tell you, Take me a while to mow my front which is less than 3000sqft.

If you really want to go green get a self powered reel mower.

There are cordless electrics out there too. But for any substantial amount of lawn a gas mower is likely the most practical.

The only way to be environmentally friendly when mowing a few acres is to either pull a reel mower with your Prius or buy some goats. Global warming is a big lie anyway.

I like the goats!!! But watch out, they do fart and this is not enviromental friendly!!!!!

A few acres?? What?? Do you know how big that is???
If you really have 5+ acres you need to be looking at a tractor pulling a mower.

I think once electric cars go solar or have a quick charge feature they will become more attractive to the buyer and when they begin to really sell in large numbers then we will also see many things also going electric like ride on lawn mowers or larger robotic mowers.
Once electric cars become cheaper and more cost effective other things will follow.

"I think once electric cars go solar"

That will not happen in my life time, only drive on sunny days?

Walt Conner

I thought we were supposed to have flying cars by now. If you really want to be "green" then don't mow at all and let it go back to prairie/meadow.

"Well in that case you probably would be wise to use a conventional gas powered mower"

Obviously you have never heard of the concepts of "mass transport" and "economies of scale" etc- in no way can MILLIONS of wheezing mowers across the country be better for the environment than the electric grid that is already in place. Even when factoring in the inefficiencies electric still is less degrading than gas. Remember you still have to go get the gas in a gas guzzling vehicle which required another an even bigger gas guzzling polluting vehicle to get it to the gas station. All the time gas fumes are escaping- not to mention all the spillage that occurs- admit it- everyone has over filled their mower. I read somewhere about how much is spilled every year and it was shocking.
Power plants pollute too- it's commonly said that using electric tools just moves the pollution somewhere else- true- it keeps it all together at the plant where it can be dealt with by people who know what they are doing. They are highly regulated also- when was the last time someone came to your house to check and see if you are polluting with your gas machines?

"Obviously you have never heard of the concepts of "mass transport" and "economies of scale" etc- in no way can MILLIONS of wheezing mowers across the country be better for the environment than the electric grid that is already in place. "

Whether it's electricity from the grid or gas in the tank we are converting energy from a carbon product to another form. Electricity from the wall comes mostly from the burning of immense amounts of coal. Tons of mercury and other pollutants are released in the process. We're more familiar with the pollution from internal combustion engines because the fuel is burned right in front of us.

If we plug lots of mowers and more importantly cars into the grid without massively increasing it's capacity we will be headed toward rotating blackouts to allow everyone a chance at recharging.