Battery Power for Lawn equipment -- is it time?

Just avoid deep discharging for longest life.

 

Well if @bisco only uses one bar per lawn cutting (1/2 acre) then I predict that his Ryobi will last longer than a year.
I’m not sure about LiPo versus lead acid per se since I only have experience with the former (telco, submarines, gold cart, automobile, etc….) but I know what the first BEVs used and I know what they use NOW.
There seem to be a lot of recreational golf cart users in neighborhoods hereabouts that are either ‘getting the lead out’ themselves or buying throw away carts and converting them.

Still deciding what’s best for my situation…..
Since I know solar is in my future, I might wind up keeping the lead IN.

 

are there any new golf carts on the market with lithium?

 

i'm using 2-3 bars out of 8. then there are 3 red bars, but the manual says the blades will stop when it reaches the red.
i'm hoping the ryobi charger (which looks really good, heavy with all aluminum cooling fins outside)

is smart enough to take care of the batteries properly.

only one way to find out!

 

I know Cushman lists a couple of them on their website, but I've never seen one in the wild.

I imagine it will catch on eventually, but golf carts are a little like delivery trucks: it's a fleet business. The average customer has hundreds+ of them and is spectacularly averse to change.

 

LifePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) are being sold as drop-in replacements for the consumer grade carts and they're a great solution!
Maintenance free, much lighter weight, faster charging by a LOT, better power performance.

The only thing is....they're expensive.
VERY expensive.
I'm seeing pricing in the $2500-3000 range for a 48v system.
I also presume that you would need another charger....but that's a relatively trivial thing ($200 or so)
My first impression is that they ought to be a no-brainer for country clubs and that there would be a short ROI over Pb carts.
HOWEVER (comma!)
My guess is that people who own golf courses aren't idiots.
If they can save money by going lead-free/gas free they will....eventually.
I can report that on the consumer sites, drop-in ICE conversions are all sold out or super-expensive performance-oriented affairs.

IIRC LifePO4 is the newest hotness for power walls and other folks living that groovy off-grid life....but I'm not an EVangelist so I haven't boned up on the difference between LiPo and LifePO4 and which one would be better for carts.

My particular golf cart was a ($1000) usta-cart from some fancy-schmancy club in my beloved home state of Indiana and thus it's not one of these $8,000 DOT-approved jacked up affairs with fancy rims and a fiberglass overlay that makes it look like a 2/3 scale 57 Chevy - so another $3,000 worth of lithium would be throwing good money after bad in my case.
I nursed the already well worn cart and batteries along for 7+ years and FOR ME.
OTOH, a drop-in Chonda kit would be about the price of Pb batteries - so I might just give in and buy some Duracells.
Right now I have a lot of other irons in the fire so we'll see.


I can see the wisdom of getting a new cart with Li batteries that would nearly "pay for themselves" if you squeeze the numbers and bend the paper but an extra $2000 (over Pb) will quickly shoot one of these golf carts into used Prius territory.

 

Congrats on your new mower.
When we went electric for our push mower it was nice to not have to worry about storing gas or oil. Bet the more you use it, the more you will appreciate it.

How do you like the job it does cutting the lawn, does it meet your expectations for lawn appearance and power?

 

I like raking leaves. Hate the blower noise. But I live too far to help you out.

 

i was very pleasantly surprised, it greatly exceeded my expectations in delivery, assembly, cutting smoothness (normal fairly dry, thick, fertilized and watered grass) was excellent. very quiet and powerful.
going from a 42" zero turn ice, to this was a bit concerning regardig mowing time and power (i even have a pretty good hill out in the back) but so far, i'm very impressed.

 

i wonder what it would have cost ryobi to put in a lithium battery vs the lead acid. it's about the size of a prius battery, 48v and 50ah i think.

 

They're coming soon.
https://www.ryobitools.com/products/80v

 

unfortunately, that gives me nothing to compare to. i assume they are not coming out with a 30" tractor in lithium, at least for now.
and the price point may not warrant it, idk.

 

There is a 30" zero turn one.
You had to scroll all the way to the bottom, and the prices are listed as "coming soon".
https://www.ryobitools.com/products/details/46396040886

 

i see it, thanks. but it is 80 volts 10ah, will be difficult to compare to 48v 50ah?

it is interesting that they both say up to one hour and one acre of mowing

 

You asked about the cost of Li batteries, and they are expensive from my experience.

We have a Kobalt 80v self-propelled 21" mower and the two 80v 5ah batteries cost as much as the mower.

Here is the current pricing- Kobalt 80v 2.5 ah battery = $150, Kobalt 80v 5ah battery = $300. Following this price structure, I would expect a 80v 10ah battery to be $600, for just one of them.

There are knock offs and used batteries but when we are talking about 100's of dollars I'll take a pass on them.

Unless there is some kind of breakthrough in price and manufacturing I think it is reasonable to expect a sizeable Li battery to add substantial cost to the product. Our old 2008 Prius went 150,000 miles and 8 years still averaging 50 mpg on old battery technology so I don't know how much value Li adds other than weight, size and charging speed which may not be that important in some applications.

I am no expert- just my opinion.

 

In the Prius, the NiMH is 1.5kWh, and the Li-ion is 1kWh. What the system uses is about the same no matter the chemistry. NiMH can't be as deeply discharged as Li-ion, and still have a long life Same is true of lead acid.

I think the battery specs posted by Ryobi are the equivalent to the total capacity number for an EV, which doesn't tell you how much of the battery is available for use.

The mower bisco got is something like $2700, with four 12V lead acid batteries. Seems the batteries are $100 to $150 each.

Ryobi hasn't released prices for the new Li-ion mowers, but the 30" does include two battery packs. You can plug some of the 40V packs in for added fun.

Well, the weight savings could be big over lead-acid.

 

this is the replacement:

319073969

 

I assume you need four for the 48 volts.

 

^ those are cute lil things. I've never used a zero-turn rig, is light weight desirable?

With tractor style rigs you kind of want a lot of weight for traction and slope stability

 

Might this also be called a 'zero turn mower'? I'm used to driving a version of this model with a 168" header, and will be running it again in about six weeks:


It certainly will turn within its own circumscribed circle. But dad's is diesel, probably 1980s-something vintage. Call me when a battery powered version becomes available.