I have a core childhood memory of standing in the expansive yard of a family friend who lived out in farm country, trying to get their old gas mower to start. I tugged the pull cord in vain for what seemed like hours, the engine rolling over lazily without ever spinning to life.
So there was no question I was going to be an early and enthusiastic adopter of electric lawnmowers, making the switch right around the same time I replaced my VHS tapes with Blu-ray.
I’ve had at least six electric mowers since—some plug-ins, some battery-powered. At one point I even hacked a Homelite mower I liked except for its underpowered proprietary battery, by soldering its connectors to a better lithium battery (I probably did my math wrong; the battery melted). Every one of those electric mowers felt like it sacrificed something you could get from a traditional internal combustion engine mower, trading an annoying extension cord or underpowered battery for instant start, less noise, and no smoke.
That is, until the Greenworks 60V 21-inch self-propelled lawn mower, which I’ve been testing on my lawn this summer. After four months of testing I’ve found this model from Greenworks does everything I need a mower to do to my Midwestern lawn, and does it with grace. If you’re a lawn enthusiast I’m sure there are mowers with more options and features to consider. But I don’t want to think too much about my mower—I just want to push a button, walk around my yard, chop a few inches off the top of my grass, then roll it back into the garage. This Greenworks mower is the first electric mower I’ve owned that does that.
Sixty Beats Forty
The first thing I want to know about an electric mower is how easy it is to handle the battery. I’m sure I’m not alone in being past corded electric mowers that, until a few years ago, still offered the best combination of power and price. The Greenworks has dual battery ports that will each hold a 60V battery, though I’ve only used one. That 5-Ah battery provides enough power to cut my small lawn two times with turbo on or three and a half times on standard. My lawn only has about 3,000 square feet of grass, though, and in the United States, residential lawns average about 10,000 square feet, according to Home Advisor. (If you live in Vermont or Montana you will probably want that second battery.) The advertised range is up to an acre, which is 43,560 square feet, but even with both batteries fully and freshly charged I would not expect to get there based on my range in testing.
Photograph: Martin Cizmar
Because it’s a 60V system, it has more power than the more common 40V systems, which makes a big difference when it comes to dealing with leaves. With a peak power output of 3200 RPMs (toward the top of the standard range for a gas mower) using the turbo mode, I’ve found the Greenworks has enough power to mulch leaves, though long wet grass drained the battery much faster than I would have expected—a leftover half-charge on a single battery wasn’t enough to finish my small yard.