When transitioning to battery-powered equipment, landscape and lawn care professionals face one primary hurdle — sticker shock. The price tag, however, doesn’t begin to tell the complete story.
Greenworks has spent the last decade engineering a best-in-class, battery-powered commercial equipment platform, which recently culminated in the release of the Optimus family of mowers and handheld tools. Greenworks designed its commercial-grade equipment solutions to meet the unique demands of landscape and lawn care professionals.
While product experts recognize that the upfront cost represents a significant capital investment, it’s the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) that is often overlooked or undervalued. Here are some key financial advantages landscape and lawn care pros must consider as they convert to a battery-powered platform.
Fuel
Removing fuel from the total ownership equation is the single largest source of savings for landscape pros when converting to battery, says Per Kvarby, vice president of product management and marketing for the commercial business unit at Greenworks.
The financial impact of eliminating gasoline is significant and almost immediate. Kvarby estimates that, on average, a contactor can realize about a $600 cost saving per month by eliminating the gas consumed by a traditional zero-turn mower.
“Granted, (total savings) depends on where in the country you’re doing business and the size of the operation, but that money is there, and it can be seen very, very quickly,” he says.
Additionally, Kvarby points out that by removing fuel from the equation, contractors can expect a boost in overall crew efficiency. This is due to eliminating non-revenue-generating time lost filling gas containers at service stations at the start of the day and refueling equipment on site throughout the day.
Maintenance and downtime
The transition to battery-powered equipment offers significant advantages that extend beyond fuel savings. Tony Marchese, senior vice president of sales and operations for the commercial business group at Greenworks, highlights often-overlooked expenses related to equipment maintenance and downtime associated with traditional gas-powered equipment.
Marchese points to operational impact when a critical component fails, such as a deck belt on a gas-powered zero-turn mower. This has the potential to ruin a workday, requiring hours or a whole day to resolve, as the unit must be fixed on-site or towed to an equipment dealer for service.
“Either way, the contractor’s day is ruined,” he says. “The takeaway is simple: Landscapers get paid to make tall grass short. And when equipment fails, they’re not doing it. This lost productivity is a significant and underestimated cost you don’t have with battery-powered equipment.”
A further advantage cementing the TCO benefit is the drastic reduction in required maintenance. Marchese explains that the extensive preventive maintenance required by gasoline engines — including changing oil, servicing hydraulic systems and maintaining carburetors — is a massive, overlooked cost. This demands time, effort and man-hours that could otherwise be generating revenue.
Kvarby agrees, adding: “The basic maintenance of changing oil, of changing belts or replacing filters, spark plugs… all of that goes away. And while these savings may start small, maintenance tends to increase with age, so the long-term cumulative effect adds substantially to the financial benefit.”
Employee satisfaction
A less quantifiable yet equally valuable benefit of converting to battery-powered equipment is operator wellness.
According to Kvarby, landscape maintenance crews often report a noticeable improvement in their daily work environment. For example, many comment that they are no longer exposed to exhaust fumes and their clothes no longer smell like gas every day, which improves their quality of life both on the job and at home. Additionally, battery power eliminates much of the excessive noise and vibration operators must manage when using gas-powered equipment. This decreased exposure positively affects the long-term health, productivity and overall well-being of workers.
“While the financial metrics may be a little more difficult to measure, the impact is there and the benefit is real for the landscape contractor,” Kvarby says.
When weighing whether to transition from gas- to battery-powered equipment, both Kvarby and Marchese recommend that contractors examine all activities that are costing them money or time and assess how battery power can enhance their overall operations.
“If contractors are really honest with themselves and put pen to paper on it, they’ll begin to see it’s an even more dramatic saving story than we can give to them,” Marchese says.
Mike Zawacki is a Cleveland-based journalist and frequent contributor who has covered various aspects of the green, horticultural, sports turf, and irrigation industries for the last 20 years.
