Here's why electric lawn mowers are cutting down the…

Canary Media’s Electrified Life column shares real-world tales, tips and insights to demystify what individuals can do to shift their homes and lives to clean electric power. Canary thanks Lunar Energy for its support of the column.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) recently bragged about signing a law that bars cities and counties from banning gas-powered engines, including in lawn equipment. ​“I will ALWAYS protect Texas’ energy industry,” he wrote on X (R.I.P. Twitter) in August.

Dallas resident and great-grandmother Joy White shot back: ​“I absolutely LOVE my electric lawn mower and leaf blower.” White, a 75-year-old retired law enforcement officer, bought her tools in 2020 when her gas mower broke. She praised how quiet, lightweight and easy to store they are.

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With the battery-powered machines, White clears leaves and trims the grass on her property as much as twice a week. She does it to keep her diminutive dog Wiener, who has ​“two-inch-long legs,” comfortable, she told Canary Media. White is also quick to help out neighbors by mowing their yards. Two were so impressed by her electric mower’s performance, they bought their own, White said. In her view, ​“Gas is the past.”

White isn’t the only one thinking that way. Several local governments are pushing a transition to electric tools, in pursuit of cleaner air and quieter neighborhoods. California has set a zero-emissions (i.e., electric) standard for manufacturers of leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other machines with small off-road engines, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. And Denver, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are all considering their own bans on gas landscaping equipment. (Dallas, where White lives, had been weighing a ban itself until Abbott’s prohibition; now it’s mulling an incentive program instead.)

Even Home Depot is encouraging the uptake of electric lawn equipment. In June, the big-box retailer announced a goal to have battery-powered products drive more than 85 percent of its outdoor lawn equipment sales by 2028.

Here’s why battery-powered yard equipment is on the rise while fossil-fueled versions fade away — and what to look for as you make the switch.

Gas lawn equipment is wildly polluting

Gas-powered landscaping equipment spews smelly, black fumes that dump colossal amounts of pollutants into the local environment. The tools lack catalytic converters, so they perform much worse than most vehicles.

In just one hour, a commercial lawn mower emits as much smog-forming pollution as a car driving for four hours — equivalent to a trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, or about 300 miles, according to the California Air Resources Board. A backpack leaf blower is even worse; running one for an hour emits as much pollution as a 1,100-mile journey.

As you’ve likely experienced firsthand, these machines are also obnoxiously loud. Many people who worked from home during the pandemic found it was a sound they couldn’t escape. For operators, a leaf blower’s roar can cause hearing damage in just a couple of hours.

And gas-powered machines aren’t performing as well as electric ones, according to professional reviewers. Electric yard tools have knocked gas models out of the top spots in many of the ​“best-of” lists that consider both — including Wirecutter, The Spruce and USA Today. Harry Sawyers of The New York Times, who used to mow professionally, called one of Ego’s electric mowers the best he’s ever used.

What to know before you buy an electric trimmer, mower or blower

Since she switched, White has reveled in no longer being forced to breathe in combustion fumes when she’s mowing or having to go to the gas station once a week to fill a gas can. She hated trying to fit its nozzle into the tiny mouth of the mower’s tank. ​“You spill it every time,” she told Canary Media.