Landscape Management Editor-in-Chief Scott Hollister stopped to chat with Eric Halfman, go-to-market manager at John Deere, and Greg Moyer, product manager of the John Deere Z9 lineup, at the 2024 Equip Exposition in Louisville, Ky. The two discuss new products and give walk-throughs.
Transcription:
SH: Scott Hollister
EH: Eric Halfman
GM: Greg Moyer
SH: We are in lovely Louisville, Ky. It’s Equip Exposition 2024 and spending some time with our friends at John Deere. And Eric, I’ll let you kind of introduce yourself, give us your title and tell us about this cool new product that we’re going to be looking at.
EH: Will do thanks for having me. My name is Eric Halfman. I’m the go-to market manager for riding lawn equipment at John Deere, and we’re looking at a recently introduced Z380R electric, which is a electric lithium ion battery powered electric mower built for the residential space. And we have two batteries in it that allow you to mow up to three and a half acres on a single charge.
SH: Okay. Show’s been open for a little while. You’ve had some traffic through here. What’s been the reaction to the battery side, the electrical side? What are you hearing from customers and landscapers about that space?
EH: So it’s an interesting conversation, right? It can be polarizing, but more and more customers are interested in quieter machines, from their Landscape crews that come out and take care of their property. So while this particular machine, in it itself, is not designed for the PLCs out there, it is a quieter machine. And if that’s been the part of the conversation with a lot of folks have been coming in.
SH: Yeah, noise ordinances, and then a cost factor too, with gas. I mean, starting to change. When is this unit available?
EH: This unit is available now. We’ll start billing them soon. But you can stop in your local John Deere dealer, or visit deere.com to to to check out pricing, availability. You can even order them online.
SH: Greg tell us a little about yourself, your title and what we’re kind of looking at here.
GM: Sure. Hey, so my name is Greg Moyer. I am the product manager for our commercial mowing Z track. So I manage the Z9 lineup. And this year, our big introduction is the new EFI engine. So we offer kind of a nice little portfolio of EFI, EFI models now that range from 30 horsepower up to 40 horsepower. And it’s something we we know customers have been asking for. We feel like this is where growth is moving forward, and so we’re excited to be introducing machines that are a part of that.
SH: So that’s why we’re on the some people might be going, why you’re on the wrong side of the mower? Yeah, you’re looking here. Specifically for a landscape contractor, or what is he or she going to be interested in with this particular unit?
GM: It’s a great question. So the biggest benefit for EFI engines, are you going to get a lot more smooth performance out of that. There’s going to be a lot of fuel efficiencies to be gained. A number of our models have what’s called an oil guard system that really helps the oil maintenance overall. So you’re going to have, instead of 100 hour service intervals, that jumps up to 500 hour service intervals, obviously a lot less time spent changing oil, lot less frequency. That’s ultimately money that goes back into the professional landscaping contractors business.
SH: And they appreciate that. How many different models is this particular technology available?
GM: So we’ve got three models that you’ll be able to get the oil guard system on, but we do have two other models, I’m sorry, three other models that you can get just a traditional EFI machine.
SH: Great. And where can folks learn more about these great new products?
GM: We’d love you to go visit your dealership. Tell them you’d like to see one of these machines. And we’re doing early order programs right now, but these should be available for spring delivery in 2025.
SH: Awesome. Something to look forward to the next year, great. Thank you for your time. Thanks for watching. We’ll have more to come from Equip Expo in Louisville, Ky.
