Cordless battery powered electric lawn mowers are fast becoming the most popular style of lawn mower for homeowners.
Here are some statistics:
- In 2021, electric lawn mowers accounted for 50% of the global $25.2 billion USD lawn mower market
- In the United States, electric mower units sales can be broken down as: 75% corded electric and 25% battery powered
- Battery powered style unit sales are expected to surpass corded sales by 2026.
Interesting stuff…
…Despite battery powered electric mowers not being nearly as powerful as gas lawn mowers their rise in popularity actually makes sense for several reasons.
5 reasons battery powered mowers are on the rise:
- Gas prices are soaring
- Less pollution at the source
- Anyone with a small lawn (smaller than a basketball court) probably doesn’t need a beefy gas mower
- Local councils are cracking down on noise pollution (gas mowers, leaf blowers etc. are loud) and battery electrics are much quieter
- Lithium battery technology has made heaps of progress over the last decade and are now more affordable, long lasting and powerful – to make them cost effective. Gone are the days of your battery powered tools lasting 10 minutes – they now can last hours.
So with all that being said:
What are the best cordless electric mowers on the market?
Which ones have the longest run-time?
Which ones have the most power to cut your grass like a gas mower?
Let’s answer those question today.
Quick Look: Top 3 Battery Powered Mowers
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LM2135-SP
- Superior cut quality with dual high lift blade system.
- 15 Amp-hour capacity (with 2 x 7.5Ah batteries) for up to 100 minute run-time in perfect grass conditions.
- 56-Volt battery system for more power than any in its class.
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- Uses Makita’s 18V battery system in parallel to get 36V. Capacity for 4 x 5Ah batteries → 20Ah total capacity.
- Commercial grade steel deck.
- Makita brushless motor auto senses grass height and adjusts RPM to provide more power.
RY401150US
- Uses Ryobi’s popular 40-Volt battery system and comes with 2x 6Ah batteries for 60ish minutes of mowing.
- Dual cutting blades for a superior, finer cut of the grass with less clumping.
- Rear wheel drive for more traction and control when turning.
Jump To The Reviews:
What’s Better: Battery Powered vs. Corded Electric?
Cordless Battery Powered
Pros:
- Don’t have to deal with electric cord and not tethered to an electric outlet
- Not limited by home electric circuit breakers only by battery power
- Batteries are measured in Amp-hours (Ah)
- A 10 Ah battery can provide 10 amps for 1 hour to the electric motor. Or 20 amps for 30 minutes. Or 40 amps for 15 minutes.
Cons:
- More expensive
- Have a limited timespan to mow before the battery needs to be charged.
Corded Electric
Pros:
- Most affordable lawn mower on the market. You can find them for $100
- Near zero maintenance like other electrics
- Never have to charge a battery or fill with gasoline
- No pollution or fumes at the source
- Small and compact for easy storage
- Quiet for easy operation in small yards with close neighbors.
Cons:
- You are tethered to yours homes electric outlet (unless you have a portable generator to plug in to)
- You have to deal with the annoying cord and constantly move it out of the mowing path
- Its power is limited by your homes electric circuit. All homes have 120V and 15-amp circuit breakers. The max continuous amps you can get through the outlet is 12-amp. So the max power manufacturers can make a corded electric mower are Power (watts) = I (amps) x V (volts).
- Power (watts) = 12A x 120V = 1,440 W
- 1 HP = 746 W
- Max Power (Hp) = 1,440 / 746 = 1.93 Hp
- Accounting for electric motor efficiency of 75%: Max power available at the mower blades of a corded electric is 1.5 Hp. (Gas mowers start at 4 Hp).
The Bottom Line:
Corded and cordless battery powered electric mowers are differentiated by price and the electric cord limiting how far you can go from an outlet.
Do you have a small yard close to your house? Corded might be for you.
Do you have a segregated yard with a side yard, backyard, front yard and lots of fences? A battery powered is probably for you.
What’s Better: Gas Engine vs. Electric Motor?
Gas Engine
Pros:
- Much more powerful to make cutting thick grass a cinch
- Can run for 3+ hours on a single tank of gas and only takes seconds to refill
- Easy to repair if you know what you’re doing
Cons:
- Loud
- Big and heavy
- Pollution at the source
- Requires regular maintenance
- More expensive than a small brushless electric motor
Electric Motor
Pros:
- Small, compact and light
- Not as loud
Cons:
- Not as powerful (in mowers)
- Not easily repairable
The Bottom Line:
Gas engines are more powerful and portable because you can refill the tank in seconds vs. hours to recharge a battery.
Electric motors – especially brushless electric – are extremely quiet and compact while still providing good power for mowing small well kept lawns.
What’s Better: Self Propelled or Push Mower?
We usually recommend self propelled for lawns with hills and for gas mowers because they are heavier.
Cordless electric lawn mowers are light and easy to manoeuvre so you can get away with not having the self propel feature – which costs more.
The self propelled mowers are less effort since the motor does the work for you. You just walk-behind it.
5 Best Cordless Battery Powered Lawn Mower Reviews
1. EGO Power+
When you see the EGO Power+ LM2135SP lawn mower in person, you’ll think: “This is the top of the line battery lawn mower on the market.
- It looks solid, rugged and durable.
- It looks like a gas lawn mower, to be fair.
- It looks high tech and hard to use (but it isn’t).
It is our top pick battery powered mower and all the other electric mower categories because it is the most powerful on the market. And for the best cut – you need the most power at the mower blades.
We have used this mower for over a year and use it almost as much as our Honda HRX and HRN gas mowers.
It can handle tough, tall and even damp grass… But… You will need to go really slow or go over it twice. But that’s alright even some gas mowers have trouble through some vert thick grass.
Normal lawn grass is no issue. And the EGO – with its dual blade system – cuts the grass amazing and leaves it looking like a golf fairway.
- Pros: Best-in-class power with 56-Volt battery system. Very durable and solid feeling. Leaves lawn looking like a gas mower cut it. EGO makes only lawn and garden equipment so once you have bought-in to the battery system you have option for other equipment.
- Cons: Expensive (especially the extra batteries). Lots features and function to get used to using.
If you have the budget to buy the best then this is the mower for you.
2. Makita XML07PT1
Our runner-up pick is the top-class Makita lawn mower.
What we love is it comes with 4x 5Ah batteries for a total capacity of 20Ah and run-time close to 40 minutes with the self propelled function operating (over an hour without self propel).
If you’re already bought in to the Makita battery system then their mower is a no brainer.
It has a steel deck for extra sturdiness and rigidity. It has easy to use controls on the left and right sides – in perfect position.
And it has the trusted Makita name. One of the remaining power tool brands not owned by Stanley Black & Decker.
- Pros: Capacity for 20 Amp-hrs. Makita quality and brand trust.
- Cons: Heavier than others because of steel deck.
It is an upper-model battery lawn mower so it isn’t the cheapest.
3. Ryobi RY401150US
Ryobi is made by TTi just like Milwaukee, AEG, Hoover and Dirt Devil.
They know their electric motors and batteries and make great products at affordable prices.
Their Ryobi cordless battery mower is a great first mower – especially if you already own Ryobi power tools.
It comes with 2x 40-Volt 6Ah batteries to give you a solid hour of run time mowing flat ground, well-kept grass.
4. Greenworks Pro 80V 21-inch
Greenworks is made by Sunrise Global and they specialize in lawn and garden equipment.
They have a huge range of cordless mowers to choose from ranging in price from about $200 to $700+ for their top of the line 80-Volt 21″ self propelled battery mower.
First off, let’s talk about the difference between the 24V, 40V, 60V and 80V Greenworks battery systems.
- The main difference is the charge time and size of battery.
- The 80-Volt battery will charge much faster than the 40V battery. Way faster. Power = IV. Power in watts. I in amps. V in volts. Even when you compare batteries with the same capacity in watt/hours the 80V battery charges 4x faster.
- The 80V will also stay cooler during charging.
- Again even comparing 2x 40V 2Ah batteries to 1x 80V 4Ah battery. The 80V is still more volume.
- A bigger battery may be more user friendly – especially when wearing gloves – as it can have larger buttons to push when wearing safety gloves.
Back to the best Greenworks battery powered mower. We like both the 40V and 80V mowers.
But ultimately the best is the Greenworks Pro 80-Volt cordless mower.
Nothing beats the 30 minute charge of the 80V battery system.
And the mower comes with a steel deck and 21-inch width to make cutting even mid sized lawns a breeze.
The 80V 2Ah battery will last 30 minutes but it comes with either 2x 2Ah or 1 x 4Ah so you have 60 minutes available to mow your yard.
5. Milwaukee
Milwaukee uses their M18 battery system on this 21″ self propelled mower.
It comes with a 12Ah battery for amazing mow time capacity. 1 hour or so depending on if you use self propel and how thick the grass is.
Milwaukee claims it has 10 ft-lbs of max torque but as we’ve talked about before max torque means nothing. What matters is for how long (power) can its brushless motor provide torque (work) to get through tough grass. Hint: gas powered will always win this for the foreseeable future.
Anyways the Milwaukee is a great mower if you have bought into the Milwaukee system already.
- Pros: Comes with 12Ah battery capacity. Steel deck. Rear wheel self propelled.
- Cons: Most expensive battery mower we have seen. Dishonest marketing.
Other Battery Powered Mower Brands We Looked At
Toro
Toro is interesting because they are one of the best gas lawn mower brands.
They have a full lineup of riding, stand-on and walk behind mowers to choose from. All with Briggs & Stratton, Kawasaki, Honda or Kohler engines.
But a few years ago they decided to partner with an OEM battery and brushless motor company to retrofit their Recycler and Super Recycler Series mower into a line of cordless electric lawn mowers.
What they created they call the Flex-Force Power System. It uses a 60V MAX (54ish-Volt) battery system with 2.5Ah, 6Ah and 7.5Ah battery options. They offer 14 battery mowers with this Flex-Force Power System ranging in price from $450 to $850.
We like them but prefer the above 5 for now.
DeWalt
DeWalt is Stanley Black & Decker’s brand they market towards prosumers at mid to high prices.
They have 5 cordless electric mowers – 4 self propelled and 1 push mower.
Although it is impossible to know without a manufacturing plant tour – DeWalt mowers are likely made on the same assembly line as Craftsman battery mowers, Cub Cadet battery mowers and Troy Bilt battery mowers.
How is this possible?
Because Stanley Black and Decker (the tool conglomerate) bought MTD Products (the outdoor power equipment giant) in 2021. MTD makes a ton of different brand lawn mowers and power equipment.
ECHO
ECHO is a brand of the Yamabiko Corporation of Japan.
They sell 4 cordless battery powered mowers.
Their “professional” model uses a 58-Volt battery system while the others use a 40-Volt system.
The are well-known and loved in the landscape industry for their chainsaws and leaf blowers.
Skil
Skil sits under the same corporate umbrella as EGO. They are both brands of Chervon.
EGO is Chervon’s lawn and garden equipment brand. And Skil is the power tool brand. However, they still offer 2 battery powered mowers with their 20V battery system. The mowers use a 2x20V = 40V Max system with 2x 5Ah batteries included.
HART
Hart comes from the same company as Ryobi, Milwaukee, AEG, Homelite, Dirt Devil and Hoover – TTi (Techtronic Industries) of Hong Kong.
They Hart mowers are exactly the same as the Ryobi mowers with different colors.
We went with Ryobi above.
Husqvarna
Husqvarna are popular Swedish company making all types of lawn and garden equipment.
Their chainsaws, robot lawn mowers and garden tractors are all very popular.
Husqvarna battery mowers are yet to stick but we’ll keep watching.
Kobalt
Kobalt is Lowe’s Home Improvement home brand just like how Husky and HDX is Home Depot’s home brand.
They use OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to build their tools and equipment and then slap the Kobalt sticker and branding on them. There’s nothing wrong with this – everyone does it.
Kobalt lawn mowers are made by Greenworks parent company Sunrise Global.
We choose to put the Greenworks mower in the our top 5 ranking above instead of Kobalt. Same mower.
Stihl
STIHL is a German company best known for their chainsaws. They also make all the other lawn and equipment we know and love.
They have 4 mower options very popular in Europe but haven’t got the eye of the American market yet.
We’ll keep an eye on their mower innovations.
FAQs
Q: Why do cordless electric mower manufacturers say “as powerful as gas” when they clearly are not?
A: When cordless electric mower makers say “gas-like power” or “exceeds the power of gas” or “more torque than gas” it is basically false advertizing.
At the present time there is no residential battery powered electric mower that is even 50% as powerful as the most entry-level gas engine mowers: 2HP vs 4 HP.
This is not a knock against battery electric mowers, it is just a fact.
- Battery electric are great for certain uses: small to medium lawns with low to medium height/density of grass.
- Gas mowers are the only option for large lawns with tough, thick, overgrown and dense grasses.
Example: When you are mowing really thick tall grass and the mower stalls. It stalled because the motor didn’t have enough POWER to give the blades enough TORQUE quick enough. You slow down going through thick grass and it mows better because the motor has more time to provide TORQUE to the blades with its finite POWER (hp).
This is why gas mowers breeze through thick stuff without slowing down. The gas engines have more POWER (hp) so it can rapidly provide enough TORQUE.
TORQUE is the work it can do and POWER is how quickly you can do it.
Q: What does brushless mean (universal brushed motor vs. brushless motor)?
A: Brushless motors are newer and better because they have a longer lifetime, better speed and acceleration, are more efficient, less noisy and more predictable.
They are also more expensive.
Why?
Because brushless motors use active control electronics to control/rotate the magnetic field of the stator instead of using brushes to commutate the motor to spin causing the magnetic field in conjunction with the copper winding.
Q: Are battery electric lawn mowers really zero maintenance?
A: The only maintenance you will need to perform is cleaning the deck underside after each mow and changing/sharpening of the blades at least once a year.
There are no oil changes, air filters or spark plugs to worry about.
Q: Why are cordless electric mowers so much more expensive?
A: When compared to gas mowers battery electric mowers are more expensive than entry-level models but similar in price to prosumer level mowers from Honda and Toro, for example.
The reason they are so much more expensive than corded electric mowers is because they have a better motor with an upgraded electronic control system and they have the cost of the battery.
Add these together and you have $800 cordless mower and a $150 corded electric mower.
Sources:
- Brushless Vs Brushed DC Motors. MonolithicPower.com.
- Global Electric Lawn Mower Market Outlook. FactMR.com.
- Twin Blade Advantage. Honda.com.
- GreenworksTools.com.
- Milwaukee Mowers. MilwaukeeTool.com.
- Ryobi Mowers. RyobiTools.com.
- Makita Mowers. MakitaTools.com.
- Greenworks 80V Pro Mower Review. YouTube.com
