The Move to Battery for Outdoor Power Products

A wave is coming. It started with small rumbles under the surface - at trade shows and from people who've moved from away. Noise by-laws? Emission Regulations? Is that so? Slowly but surely (the East Coast of Canada is the last place that gets anything, isn't it?) the rumbles are getting louder and louder. They'll eventually surface. But we're ready. 

The Move to Battery: Environmental Factors

A large driver of the move to battery is the environmental factor. The emissions from 2-stroke engines horrible for the environment due to their oil/gas mixture. In addition to that, housing the gas and oil and working with those mixtures means that more of those components have the chance to be spilled, or leak, then leech into our environment's waterways.

When compared to conventional engines, two-stroke engines produce more carbon monoxide, smoke and hydrocarbons (look those last ones up, those guys are scary!) 

According to the California Air Resources Board, a commercial gas-powered leaf blower running just an hour produces about as much pollution as driving a 2017 Toyota Camry 1,760 kilometers. That's the distance from Toronto to Manitoba! 

Let's Get Ready to... Be Quiet?

In larger cities, the move to battery products started with noise pollution (the environment was, we guess, a biproduct? But we digress). Battery outdoor power products are quiet and don't 'run' until you hit the trigger. This reduces the noise produced by your unit significantly as you don't need your machines to 'run' while you walk from tree to tree or around your property.

Many cities' two-stroke laws first came into affect as 'quiet hours bi-laws' meaning that you weren't permitted to run small engines until certain hours of the day. This of course negatively impacted landscapers and professional groundskeepers who try and get an early start to their days before the heat of the sun takes over. Battery products were a great option for these companies.

Maintenance? What Maintenance?

Just kidding, there's always maintenance! But it's so much less with battery products than it is with gas! Not only do you not have to worry about mixing your fuel or your fuel going stale (8-12 weeks is the current tipping rate for fuel, not long at all and a great way to ruin a carburetor!) but there are much fewer moving parts that can break, wear or age!

What About Performance?

There used to be an argument for the performance of battery products when compared to gas but that is slowing to a whisper now. The battery technology has become so advanced that nearly anyone can use a battery product for all of their yard care needs without sacrificing performance. Most batteries within a brand are also completely interchangeable meaning when you buy a leaf blower, push mower and chainsaw, you now have 3 batteries you can keep charged for those big jobs. All of our brands also offer bare-tools as a cost savings measure. If you don't need another battery, why have to pay for it?

Lets Talk Dollars and Cents

The upfront cost of battery products may seem daunting but if you're due to replace your equipment anyways, spending the extra few dollars to switch to battery is the way to go. Fuel and oil savings alone will help close the gap in cost. At the time of this post 10L of premium fuel (for the love of God, use premium in all your small engines!) will cost you almost $16, plus the price of the oil to go in it. Besides the obvious cost savings of fuel, you'll also be saving the maintenance and repair cost of small engine work. Things still go wrong with battery products but in general they are easier to service and are less labor-intensive than gas machines.

What We're Doing to Prepare

All of this information is enough to make any small engine mechanic shake in their boots or dig their heels in to make gas engines last forever. Although gas is the flavour of the week right now, we've seen the future and we know what's coming. We have 4 technicians on staff, all of whom are trained on battery and electric products. We've been working on battery power tools for decades already so we've got a nice head-start!

Want to shop all of our battery products? Check them out HERE