Years ago when electric mowers were relatively new, I bought my first one – but with deep hesitation. It was an 80V Kobalt push mower with lithium ion batteries – and I did NOT think it would work very well. It cost a lot of money. But as a battery and solar enthusiast, I thought it was time to give it a try. Plus, I needed an electric mower for a very specific yard chore. So I just went ahead and forced myself to buy it.
My intent was to use the mower on a certain part of my yard with deep ditches. I figured the battery would be flat after 10 minutes or less. Hopefully, that would be enough to get the specific yard chore done, I reasoned…
The Performance
However, I was shocked to discover the mower could mow the front yard of about 1/2 acre, and still have power left in the battery. In fact, the extra battery I purchased was technically not necessary. And the BLDC (brushless) motor was extremely powerful, able to rip through grass even if it was too tall. I was immediately impressed and astonished. Plus, the motor had an amazing whirring sound! I realized Lithium-Ion batteries and electric mowers are a match made in heaven…
That was several years ago. Since then, my Kobalt 80V mower has seen some rather severe and heavy duty work over the years. I am very thankful for it.
Electric Mower Unconventional Use Case
Got grass?? Recently in a bid to save my health, I scraped everything together and moved to a quiet new property in the country. It has over 35 acres of grass and weeds. A smart choice for someone who is weary of mowing and yard maintenance! In between 2 properties, and in the chaos of moving, I did not have a mower available to maintain the new location, so the grass got extremely tall. Naturally, I dragged the Kobalt 80V out there as soon as I could hoping to cut some paths or just make whatever small improvements were possible. I managed to knock down some of the grass around the house but was too occupied to do much more.
Then some months later, I started working on clearing land for a gray water system and found myself facing tall weeds up to 5 feet. They were in my way. I had no brush hog, and could not afford to call one either. I still had no other mower available until I completed the move and could haul my riding mower to the new place. Even so, the riding mower could never handle 5ft tall grass and weeds.
So I decided to try using the Kobalt 80V mower as an improvised brush hog by tilting the deck up. Amazingly, with care and patience, the mower was able to knock down weeds that were over 2 feet high, sometimes over 3-5ft. It broke down small branches and cut small saplings easily. And it took down some of the thickest country grass I had ever seen, about 2ft tall. I am well aware it’s NOT SAFE to use a mower in this way, but have years of experience doing it and have honed and developed the method for myself.
Long story short, this mower was able to knock down everything I asked it to, and that really impressed me. So I decided to make the video below showing some of my work. In case it doesn’t show up, here is a direct link.
WARNING: do not attempt to operate a mower without the discharge chute in place, as shown in the video. Injury could result. Experimental use only.
Electric mowers can truly be a versatile and capable option for yard maintenance! How long before we have actual purpose-built DC battery powered brush hogs for clearing land? I sure could use one!
Thanks for reading and see you later! -Dave, SPE
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