Club Benefits
For years — nay, decades — I've spent most weekends standing on my lawn, yanking on my mower's pull cord like I was trying to wrestle a chainsaw into submission. It was exhausting. Eventually, I just snapped — I could no longer abide the oil leaks, the spluttering, the stopping for no reason and refusing to start up again. It seriously felt like the machine was personally offended by doing the one thing that justifies its existence. I'm talking years and years of constant maintenance for very little reward.
So, yeah. I ditched it. Hasta la vista, you piece of junk.
I decided to go electric, and now I'm kicking myself for waiting this long. The very first time I held down the start button and pulled the bail bar, there was just a quiet whirr. No fumes. No failed starts. It simply worked. Within seconds, I was gliding across the lawn with very little effort (largely due to my model being self-propelled). And when I was done, I could go back inside without smelling like a servo forecourt.
Mowing feels like less of a chore
To me, the change feels less like a simple upgrade and more like breaking free from a toxic relationship. Sure, my front and back yards haven't changed, but the chore itself? Suddenly, it’s completely effortless.
The biggest change was no longer dealing with oil or petrol. The Ryobi model I bought came with a 36V 6.0Ah rechargeable lithium battery, and all I have to do is slot it into place and the lawn mower is ready to go.
On a full charge, that battery gives me about 35 minutes of mowing in Smart mode, though switching to Eco mode can stretch that time. There’s also a Power mode for tackling really dense or tall grass, but it drains the battery faster. Honestly, I haven’t come across any grass that Smart mode couldn’t handle with ease.
Swapping petrol power for batteries
I also have an extra 4.0Ah battery that came with the matching Ryobi line trimmer I bought at the same time, and it fits perfectly into the second battery slot on my mower, adding about 25 more minutes of runtime. Even if you don’t go for an electric line trimmer or edger (or both, like my model with its switchable heads), I still strongly suggest having a second battery.
The only prep needed is making sure the batteries are fully charged before mowing, and that's honestly the only downside I've come across in the switch to a battery-powered mower. Each battery takes roughly twice the time to charge as it does to use, which works out to around 70 minutes for the 6.0Ah battery and 50 minutes for the 4.0Ah battery.
Personally, I’d much prefer that to having to stop several times during a mowing session to refill my previous mower’s four-stroke engine with petrol, or worse, stopping to mix precise amounts of oil into a separate petrol can before fueling up the old two-stroke mower I had prior.
Managing battery usage
Of course, long charging times is only really an issue if you have particularly large front and back yards. Mine are fairly spacious, and I’ve noticed I can finish mowing the larger front yard — being on a corner, I have quite a bit of street-facing grass along the side of the house — with at least one light still showing on my 6.0Ah battery’s four-light indicator. The same goes for my medium-sized backyard when using the 4.0Ah battery.
The key is to start charging your depleted battery right after switching to a fully charged one if you plan to keep mowing. By the time the second battery runs out, the first should have a decent charge again. There's also the option of purchasing additional batteries, though I don't think that will be necessary for the average Aussie household.
Still, these runtimes are all specific to my mower and its batteries. There are many battery-powered mowers available, some of which may even be better suited to your lawn's layout and size. Here are some of the top models available on Amazon right now, listed by price. Simply click through to any model to read more about its capabilities.
Top electric mowers on Amazon
Gardening essentials we love
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