Had a good operational cost comparison yesterday. Neighbor behind me has a 42" Toro Timecutter 0turn and the neighbor next door has a Gravely 34" 0turn. All of our lawns are 10,000 sq.ft. and we all spend about a half hour mowing. The V-twin ICE engines in the Toro & Gravely burn a gallon of gas an hour when mowing. 87E10 here is $3.69/ga., so the neighbors spend a $1.85 to mow their lawns. $1.85 likely isn't a big expense to mow your lawn and folks likely don't look at what it costs to run a lawn mower. My RM480 costs $0.06 @ my electric rate to mow the same sized lawn. Add in the cost of maintenance for an ICE mower that the RM480 doesn't have, and it's easy to see why my RM480 saved enough in 54 months to pay for a new set of 100 ahr. batteries. Oh yeah, the Toro cost $3,400 new and the Gravely cost $7,995 new. I paid $2,499 for my RM480e new.
Just mowed .6 of an acre in 90 min. with my 58 month old former RM480e (now an RM480ex with the new Mighty Max 100 ahr. batteries). Total electrical recharge cost was $0.19. My neighbors' V-twin ICE mowers would have burned about $4.86 in 87E10 in that time. Gas here is $3.24/gal. today.
@@iamorganicgardening did you keep track of how many mows/charge cycles you got out of your first set of batteries? Replacement still going to be $400. Any better reasonably priced replacement battery chemistry tech since you made this vid? Seems like battery tech is evolving quickly with the boom in EVs.
My RM480e is 57 months old. 226 mows, 152 hours of run time, costs $0.24/hour to run and has saved enough gas and maintenance cost to pay for a new set of batteries.
I will be replacing the 75 ahr. batteries with 100 ahr. batteries to further reduce the routine Depth Of Discharge which should give a longer lifespan than the original batteries provided.
Four Mighty Max ML100-12 batteries installed today. Minimal alterations required to the battery tray. Forward battery stop adjusted all the way forward and the threaded adjustment rods shortened. Battery spacing in the middle kept the same and centered for the clamping bolt. The stock spacers between the batteries were left in place. New foam center spacer added between front and rear battery sets. Rear stop adjusted to clamp everything front to rear. Mower is now a RM480ex. Now to see how the DOD & charging cost play out.
@@jfrye2475 DOD is down about 2% and cost per hour of run time is also decreasing. I would say the larger the ahr. of the battery pack is, the lower the cost od operation and the longer the lifespan of the batteries.
Hello , I am looking to purchase a ryobi ev lawn tractor and I was wondering how has your mower held up ? Any problems? Thank you . Respectfully Deon M
Just a strong. What I think do do in the winter or not in use them do not have the charger plug in all the time like they want you to do. Just like a car sitting and not run at all for the battery.
You will regret not keeping batteries plugged in, I run maintenance for a large resort and we use electric golf carts for everything. These chargers are smart chargers and also sense battery temperature. If you live in a warm climate it may not be a problem but we have severe winters, the charger keeps the battery warm durning extreme cold snaps, these batteries are nothing like your car battery, good video.
I use a watering handle that is 2 feet long with a 45 degree angle ( amazon search: long handle watering wand ) with the deck raise all the way up and some dawn soap.. The batteries in it is a standard wheelchair battery. Sels for around 100.00 to 150.00 each. Shipping included.
I bought mine second hand with 32 hrs. It is now charged with my 2 solar panels on the roof of my shed along with the batteries for all my other lawn care equipment. I obviously have to charge the batteries during the day but it is a small effort for $0 cost of operation for all my lawn care needs.
I am not pushing Ryobi. But electric always have less parts and wear. Not stater. or oil and fuel filter & air. No belts , no pulleys. Much less noise. Stronger or equal to gas. FAR less hot air from engine then gas. no fumes. No exhaust to burn your hand on of start fires with. No carb the gets clog up with sitting gas over winter storage . No try to gas station of pour gas. ETC. My main reason I bought it was les noise. I have be cutting grass for 47 years now. and so much quite now and fun again. But you should never spend beyond your limits.
The only cost you should have is new blades when needed and New batteries which is a high cost around $600 in maybe 4 to 7 years por longer. Which You can buy & replace yourself.
Any comments on the performance as the battery goes from full charge to near the end of a charge? The Ryobi's are less expensive since they use lead acid instead of Lithium Nickle, but I hear the Lithium batters are better at maintaining full current (amps/power) whereas the lead acid battery performance maybe becomes more and more weaker as the charge gets lower.
The cost would be double or triple. And you would not gain anything. With 4 - 12 volt batteries that give you have 400 amps. That is not cheap to do with Lithium.
I've used this mower for two seasons now. Since I'm trying to get my whole organic gardening effort off fossil fuel, I'd like to convert my DR PowerWagon to electricity. I'm thinking the motor off this Ryobi could power my PowerWAgon, because it's got lots of torque plus decent speed. I wonder where I could buy just the main "drive motor." Any ideas?
Batteries have warranty for 12 months only. If you use more than 50% of the battery capacity before recharging each time, the battery will fail early. Lead Acid Batteries are notorious when abused. There is a reason that they guarantee them only for 12 months whilst the mower body has a three year warranty. If you look after the batteries and don't use the mower much, they will last up to 5 years. The replacement cost of the batteries is very high as a Ryobi replacement. So running costs may be comparable with gas mowers when used for properties larger than 1 acre.
I purchased an EGO battery powered push mower for my daughter so she wouldn’t have to worry about keeping gas, cranking etc. she has been delighted with it. The 60 amp battery will easily cut her yard on a single charge. It handles tall grass reasonably well. It has exceeded our expectations and I will consider battery powered when I purchase again. Thanks for the video Mark! Happy Holidays!
I have the Ryobi Electric Push Mower. I love it! The yard looks great, the mower is light, quiet and I get folks asking me about it when they see me mowing. The yard is getting bigger as I get older so I will be getting this rider next season. Great information and thanks for sharing!
What about mice getting into the wiring. I have had issues with mice getting into my gas mower and chewing wires. How sealed is the compartment to protect from mice infestation? Thank you.
That is one sweet mower. I wish I had grass to justify buying it but we installed AstroTurf this year saving us a ton of money in watering, seeding, fertilizing and other maintenance, and it has a thirty year warranty.
Big fan of your channel and how you're trying to scale-up the B2E approach. I'm wondering, do you have any experience with seeders that work well in such thick mulch?
Sorry, I do not. My opinion there will never be one do to the thick mulch. But you can always rake the wood chips aside and crate a 4 x 4 inch trench and fill it with compost that is decompose and screened finely and use a seeder then.
@@iamorganicgardening Thanks for the reply. I have a small farm and I'm interested in the commercial viability of B2E, but I haven't had much direct seeding success over the past few years. This is my first market year with a B2E field but without a method of at least hand-pulled seeding/transplanting, I can't see how I can maintain volume. I guess I'll just have to do some experiments this season with seeders and methods. Would you be interested in staying in contact and sharing results via email or something?
When will we see this green machine in action? I’m planning on buying a tractor for my farm in the future. I wonder if electric tractors, (ET) will one day be available for sale.
Absolutely, won't be long. Electric commercial mowers have already been in use for a couple years. The battery & electronics tech is improving rapidly and exponentially.
Great Question.. I wish I could do less. But the rules in my town states no fence with 100 feet of roadway and no animals with in 250 feet. DUMB RULE. I fought it and lost many times. There answer is you have over 22 acres and you do not need to be closer to the road. Plus I have to maintain it, by cutting.. no taller than 5 inches of growth total.
Buyer beware! This mower is made in China, and the batteries are only warrantied for 1 year. My Ryobi worked the first season, but the second season was dead (even after I keep the batteries charged up from time to time). By the time I got it in the shop the warranty had expired. New batteries would cost 1200 more or less according to Ryobi. I am still trying to see if Ryobi will do right by me, so I might update this comment at some point.
@@stevepower81 After much persistence, the Ryobi rep agreed to send 2 new batteries (4 are required at approx. 300 per battery according to the shop mechanic), but the mower is still in the shop and not fixed. I have just about decided to give up on it, and do not even know if the batteries have been sent or received since promised by Ryobi last month. Based I my experience, I would stay away from this mower.
I appreciated the info thanks much. My opinion isn't necessarily the right one, but I come up with $112 / year operating cost as lead acid batteries are consumable resource equating to roughly 90% of your true cost. Maximizing the life of your batteries is one way to drastically reduce your cost to operate, treat them like family. Lead acid do not like high drain, do not like extreme heat, do not like being drained dead, do not like being repeatedly partial charged. They are finicky & expensive (per cycle). I'm evaluating whether to get electric / gas and the cost of fuel storage should be considered since it works our to be fifteen times more expensive than the electric itself in your case. You may get more than 3 years from lead acid but I doubt it, internet searches seem to support my instinct on this. The estimate of $125 per replacement battery was a guess based on recent experience. Electric: 60 Kwh * $.20 = $12.00 /year Electric Storage/Delivery: 12 v Lead Acid ~$125 * 4 = $500 / 3 yr. life (optimistic) is $166 /year Yearly operating cost (30 cuts) of around $112 Per cut cost of $3.17 or little over a gallon of gasoline. I'm surprised they use lead acid, but those are the cheapest to buy, but die quickly (maintenance item). When they put Lifep04/Lithium batteries the cost per cycle will drop but initial cost is higher, that mower with lithium would be at least $600+ higher. I still may go w/ electric & replace the LA batteries with something better when they die, or use them in my solar array which is easier on a lead acid & swap out for my 38120 8 ah packs.
Rich, do you think it will be possible, down the road, to directly switch out the SLA batteries for lithium iron phosphate? I’ve seen some videos and read some articles that make this claim, and they even say that you can keep the same charger. Just maintain the same voltage and the same amp hours.
Thanks for this review. I'm currently deciding between this and a cub cadet rzt. I have about an acre of grass area to cut. I'm waiting to see when they will drop the price and if they will make some improvements for the 2019 model.
When your other mower needs replace, it is worth a look at. THANKS. I was happy that it can also pull over 200 pounds of produce in the wagon behind it.
That's really cool. I didn't even know Ryobi made a mower. I saw your thumbnail and was shocked. We use solar energy, so it wouldn't cost us anything to charge that up.👍👊 Great review.
There are lithium ion batteries for gulf carts and other equpment. Id love to install lithium ion battery in that. Could probably store 2x power and be able to use for mowing in nice neighborhoods.
I have REALLY enjoyed Ryobi's 18V+ tool line. This mower looks like it is designed to be safe (Voltage when compared to EV cars) for the average joe to work on. If it will cut 2 whole acres on a single charge then it is a perfectly sized battery bank for a 1 acre yard. Not fully discharging batteries enables them to last drastically longer/handle more charging cycles. Also... I LOVE that it just simply uses 4 12V batteries!!! No special expensive battery packs to replace in the future. I could even do a battery upgrade to some deep cycle Lithium batteries in 10yrs when the stock ones wear out. Drastically increasing performance on MANY levels. Also, A battery cart like this would easily double as a home battery backup. It would compliment some solar panels nicely! That alone would make the extra price tag worth it.
Meter use : YOUTHINK 614405599092 Electricity Usage Monitor Power Meter Plug Home Energy Watt Volt Amps Wattage KWH Consumption Analyzer with Digital LCD Display Overload Protection, 6.1" 1.2" 2.8", White
It will actually be more like 6.6 cents.The way the numbers were rounded added 38% to the kWh usage. 55kW/37.9hrs = 1.466kWh per acre, half acre would be .733kWh * .09 = .066 cents per 1/2 acre. This is just like an electric car, so much more efficient but more expensive upfront cost. The other benefits are being much quieter, no fumes, no oil or gas to mess around with and no engine to worry about not running right, needing a new carburetor, spark plug, ignition coil, air cleaner, etc. I'm really over all the hassles of internal combustion engines. You still have blades to sharpen or change but the operating cost is so much cheaper and the less hassle of maintenance actually makes me want to use it. It really is so much nicer to be able to fuel your lawn mower from an electrical outlet. They suggest you just leave it plugged in all the time when not in use to get the best battery life and like the Rich said above, don't discharge it any more than necessary, lead acid batteries like to be fully charged and not too deeply cycled. I do think his 3 yr life cycle is a low estimate unless you need to drain the batteries near full discharge every time you mow or don't plug it in every time and leave them partially charged. They should last longer than that if you keep it plugged in all the time. And even when they do start to hold less charge, they will just start to run down quicker. They won't need to be changed until the capacity is close to what it takes to mow your lawn.
@@EVMANVSGAS I actually bought one of these right after my comment. On average to cut my 3/4 acre costs 9 to 10 cents per cut according to my Kill-A-Watt meter, at 9 cents KWH billing.
A nice breakdown on the run costs of the Ryobi riding mower. I've got a little 40v push mower from them and I just love it for the smaller areas but would love to upgrade to something like this one day for the larger patches!
A lot of people dismiss this machine because of the lead-acid batteries - and I think that's a mistake. Lead-acid is actually a better choice in this application. They are MUCH less expensive (both to buy and to replace when the time comes) and they are not as particular about how you charge them. Lithium ion would be much lighter, but weight really doesn't matter here like it does in a car or a power tool you have to lug around. In fact, I think the heavier batteries, set very low in the frame, make the mower more stable than it would be with lithium-ion. This is technology that's been around for decades... it's basically a mini golf cart with a cutting deck... so it should be very reliable for many years to come. I love mine!
@@ZZZRaven65 for the price of this machine it should have lithium.not to mention the charge cycles difference is huge. the lead will die at around 1000 charges vs lithium will go on for 5 to 10 years the only thing that happens is that it will level off at around 80 percent "just like a tesla" that is the problem. the company wants you to buy a new mower soon and if your mower does not need service parts like a engine does and the mower last for a long time the company cant sell you anything substantial
@@ZZZRaven65 not today! you can build a replacement for that lead acid with 18650 cells for $200 they can do it way cheaper. remember they already use those batteries in all thier tools now and have been for a decade.
@@raaah That's interesting, but still double the cost of the lead-acid... and you'd still have the more finicky charging requirements of the lithium (I tried one in one of my motorcycles and it's very easy to kill them if you don't charge them correctly or allow the charge to get too low - and they become weaker in cold weather). Anyway, the point is there are pros and cons to both and you shouldn't overlook this great machine just because it has lead-acid batteries. They do the job very well and should last 5-7 years with proper care. I'm sure it will be possible to replace them with lithium at that time if that's what you really want. ...and I might if the cost is the same, though I may just stick with lead-acid BECAUSE of the weight and the stability it adds to the machine.
Nice video Mark.. here in Mass we pay approx. 25 cents a KWH if you add in all the delivery, fuel, and extra charges... but still that's approx. 45.8 cents per acre....I'm going to keep my Scag mower though....
40¢ a cut! so the tractor was given to you and all thos cost, wear and tear dont count? your time is free? you should scream it to your naghbor. lol ok i get it your talking only about your energy consumption. nice lawn mower
Unfortunately, the true cost to run this unit is much higher. You need to include the 4 batteries at ~$250 each, which last no more than 5 years on average. So amortize this at $200/year to cover battery. Now it's much less competitive. This is the main negative of this Ryobi, as I see it.
My original 75 ahr. batteries lasted 57 months, 152 hrs. of use, 235 mows, and 2,082 charges. The mower saved $685 in gas and maintenance costs in that time period after the cost of electricity. A new set of four 100 ahr. batteries cost $660. And it's more than 15 times cheaper to run than a comparable ICE mower just on fuel cost alone without the usual ICE maintenance requirements. Don't see it being less competitive.
Got the 100amp hr,38 inch version on order. Stoked!
NICE..
Had a good operational cost comparison yesterday. Neighbor behind me has a 42" Toro Timecutter 0turn and the neighbor next door has a Gravely 34" 0turn. All of our lawns are 10,000 sq.ft. and we all spend about a half hour mowing. The V-twin ICE engines in the Toro & Gravely burn a gallon of gas an hour when mowing. 87E10 here is $3.69/ga., so the neighbors spend a $1.85 to mow their lawns. $1.85 likely isn't a big expense to mow your lawn and folks likely don't look at what it costs to run a lawn mower. My RM480 costs $0.06 @ my electric rate to mow the same sized lawn. Add in the cost of maintenance for an ICE mower that the RM480 doesn't have, and it's easy to see why my RM480 saved enough in 54 months to pay for a new set of 100 ahr. batteries. Oh yeah, the Toro cost $3,400 new and the Gravely cost $7,995 new. I paid $2,499 for my RM480e new.
Just mowed .6 of an acre in 90 min. with my 58 month old former RM480e (now an RM480ex with the new Mighty Max 100 ahr. batteries). Total electrical recharge cost was $0.19. My neighbors' V-twin ICE mowers would have burned about $4.86 in 87E10 in that time. Gas here is $3.24/gal. today.
Forgot to state the run used 8% of the usable charge.
How is it holding up now?
All is fine , but need new batteries
@@iamorganicgardening did you keep track of how many mows/charge cycles you got out of your first set of batteries? Replacement still going to be $400. Any better reasonably priced replacement battery chemistry tech since you made this vid? Seems like battery tech is evolving quickly with the boom in EVs.
I have a mower like that too but the brake lock is on the floor.
Thanks
My RM480e is 57 months old. 226 mows, 152 hours of run time, costs $0.24/hour to run and has saved enough gas and maintenance cost to pay for a new set of batteries.
I will be replacing the 75 ahr. batteries with 100 ahr. batteries to further reduce the routine Depth Of Discharge which should give a longer lifespan than the original batteries provided.
Great to hear. Thanks
Four Mighty Max ML100-12 batteries installed today. Minimal alterations required to the battery tray. Forward battery stop adjusted all the way forward and the threaded adjustment rods shortened. Battery spacing in the middle kept the same and centered for the clamping bolt. The stock spacers between the batteries were left in place. New foam center spacer added between front and rear battery sets. Rear stop adjusted to clamp everything front to rear. Mower is now a RM480ex. Now to see how the DOD & charging cost play out.
@@jfrye2475 DOD is down about 2% and cost per hour of run time is also decreasing. I would say the larger the ahr. of the battery pack is, the lower the cost od operation and the longer the lifespan of the batteries.
Hello , I am looking to purchase a ryobi ev lawn tractor and I was wondering how has your mower held up ? Any problems? Thank you . Respectfully Deon M
All good. Just the switch to turn the mowing blades on broke. That's all
Do you know if the 480E can tow a Plug Lawn Aerator with about 140 lbs of weight on the aerator?
I weigh 200 lbs and my friend weighs 340 lbs and he sat & cut my lawn. So I would say YES to towing it.
Hi! Thank you for your Ryobi videos, have you released your overall one year review of the lawn mower yet? Looking forward to it. Thank you.
Coming soon! This year. Thanks
What is the condition of the mower, a year later?
How are the batteries now that the 1-year warranty has passed?
Just a strong. What I think do do in the winter or not in use them do not have the charger plug in all the time like they want you to do. Just like a car sitting and not run at all for the battery.
You will regret not keeping batteries plugged in, I run maintenance for a large resort and we use electric golf carts for everything. These chargers are smart chargers and also sense battery temperature. If you live in a warm climate it may not be a problem but we have severe winters, the charger keeps the battery warm durning extreme cold snaps, these batteries are nothing like your car battery, good video.
@DrgnFlys THANK YOU for sharing great info.
How do you clean under the deck without a hose attacment and how much are replacement batteries?
I use a watering handle that is 2 feet long with a 45 degree angle ( amazon search: long handle watering wand ) with the deck raise all the way up and some dawn soap.. The batteries in it is a standard wheelchair battery. Sels for around 100.00 to 150.00 each. Shipping included.
I bought mine second hand with 32 hrs. It is now charged with my 2 solar panels on the roof of my shed along with the batteries for all my other lawn care equipment. I obviously have to charge the batteries during the day but it is a small effort for $0 cost of operation for all my lawn care needs.
Great Review! Thank you very Much ⚡️😎⚡️
Glad you liked it! THANK YOU.
How many times did you charge the batteries in 30 hours?
About 12 times
Ty for this. Still debating on what to get for my 1st mower
The first question you should be concerned about is how much grass do you have to cut ?
@@iamorganicgardening 1 acre so I'm definitely looking for riding mowers that can cover that much space, but I'd like it to be low maintenance also
I am not pushing Ryobi. But electric always have less parts and wear. Not stater. or oil and fuel filter & air. No belts , no pulleys. Much less noise. Stronger or equal to gas. FAR less hot air from engine then gas. no fumes. No exhaust to burn your hand on of start fires with. No carb the gets clog up with sitting gas over winter storage . No try to gas station of pour gas. ETC. My main reason I bought it was les noise. I have be cutting grass for 47 years now. and so much quite now and fun again. But you should never spend beyond your limits.
@@iamorganicgardening makes sense. Thank you so much for the info. Please keep us posted on this mower.
The only cost you should have is new blades when needed and New batteries which is a high cost around $600 in maybe 4 to 7 years por longer. Which You can buy & replace yourself.
Any comments on the performance as the battery goes from full charge to near the end of a charge? The Ryobi's are less expensive since they use lead acid instead of Lithium Nickle, but I hear the Lithium batters are better at maintaining full current (amps/power) whereas the lead acid battery performance maybe becomes more and more weaker as the charge gets lower.
It stays at full cutting power until it tells you by stopping the blades from cutting any more
Have you considered upgrading your 12v lead to lithium?
The cost would be double or triple. And you would not gain anything. With 4 - 12 volt batteries that give you have 400 amps. That is not cheap to do with Lithium.
I've used this mower for two seasons now. Since I'm trying to get my whole organic gardening effort off fossil fuel, I'd like to convert my DR PowerWagon to electricity. I'm thinking the motor off this Ryobi could power my PowerWAgon, because it's got lots of torque plus decent speed. I wonder where I could buy just the main "drive motor." Any ideas?
Call Ryobi parts dept. Great a break down of the parts list from them about the main motor. Then google it to fine prices ranges.
@@iamorganicgardening Thank you soooo much.
That is rather impressive! Figured it would come one day but had no idea it already existed!
How long does it take to charge?
6 to 8 hrs...
Your electric mower has a gas pedal?
It is called an accelerator pedal. Same as in a electric car.
@@iamorganicgardening I know but you said gas pedal. Just messing with you.
How has this mower held up after a couple years?
Battery good. Just the switch to engage to blades broke the end of last year. I bought a cheaper one online than though RYOBI parts Dept. Thanks
Batteries have warranty for 12 months only. If you use more than 50% of the battery capacity before recharging each time, the battery will fail early. Lead Acid Batteries are notorious when abused. There is a reason that they guarantee them only for 12 months whilst the mower body has a three year warranty. If you look after the batteries and don't use the mower much, they will last up to 5 years. The replacement cost of the batteries is very high as a Ryobi replacement. So running costs may be comparable with gas mowers when used for properties larger than 1 acre.
They are the same batteries used in wheelchairs. Sold much cheaper. Shop around is the best thing to do.
I purchased an EGO battery powered push mower for my daughter so she wouldn’t have to worry about keeping gas, cranking etc. she has been delighted with it. The 60 amp battery will easily cut her yard on a single charge. It handles tall grass reasonably well. It has exceeded our expectations and I will consider battery powered when I purchase again. Thanks for the video Mark! Happy Holidays!
That is so GREAT to Hear...THANKS
I have the Ryobi Electric Push Mower. I love it! The yard looks great, the mower is light, quiet and I get folks asking me about it when they see me mowing. The yard is getting bigger as I get older so I will be getting this rider next season. Great information and thanks for sharing!
What about mice getting into the wiring. I have had issues with mice getting into my gas mower and chewing wires. How sealed is the compartment to protect from mice infestation? Thank you.
Everything very sealed up.
Is it ok to clean it with a hose?
I do. BUT it is not recommended too. They say just use a leaf blower.. THANKS for asking
That is one sweet mower. I wish I had grass to justify buying it but we installed AstroTurf this year saving us a ton of money in watering, seeding, fertilizing and other maintenance, and it has a thirty year warranty.
For more information and videos see my Ryobi 480e group.
facebook.com/groups/2756962307675482/?ref=share
I'm impressed with how it managed that slope, it looks good.
I fully agree with you, so was I. THANKS for watching
Engine? Gas pedal? I thought this was electric with a motor.😯
Old habits..
Another thing you can do is add a snow plow from Brinly. I highly recommend it.
facebook.com/groups/2756962307675482/?ref=share
Big fan of your channel and how you're trying to scale-up the B2E approach. I'm wondering, do you have any experience with seeders that work well in such thick mulch?
Sorry, I do not. My opinion there will never be one do to the thick mulch. But you can always rake the wood chips aside and crate a 4 x 4 inch trench and fill it with compost that is decompose and screened finely and use a seeder then.
@@iamorganicgardening Thanks for the reply. I have a small farm and I'm interested in the commercial viability of B2E, but I haven't had much direct seeding success over the past few years. This is my first market year with a B2E field but without a method of at least hand-pulled seeding/transplanting, I can't see how I can maintain volume. I guess I'll just have to do some experiments this season with seeders and methods. Would you be interested in staying in contact and sharing results via email or something?
When will we see this green machine in action? I’m planning on buying a tractor for my farm in the future. I wonder if electric tractors, (ET) will one day be available for sale.
Absolutely, won't be long. Electric commercial mowers have already been in use for a couple years. The battery & electronics tech is improving rapidly and exponentially.
What do you need that much lawn for?
Great Question.. I wish I could do less. But the rules in my town states no fence with 100 feet of roadway and no animals with in 250 feet. DUMB RULE. I fought it and lost many times. There answer is you have over 22 acres and you do not need to be closer to the road. Plus I have to maintain it, by cutting.. no taller than 5 inches of growth total.
@@iamorganicgardening That's a bunch of rules!
Buyer beware! This mower is made in China, and the batteries are only warrantied for 1 year. My Ryobi worked the first season, but the second season was dead (even after I keep the batteries charged up from time to time). By the time I got it in the shop the warranty had expired. New batteries would cost 1200 more or less according to Ryobi. I am still trying to see if Ryobi will do right by me, so I might update this comment at some point.
You can buy the batteries for less then half of what you say on amazon.
How did this work out for you? I’m considering this mower
@@stevepower81 After much persistence, the Ryobi rep agreed to send 2 new batteries (4 are required at approx. 300 per battery according to the shop mechanic), but the mower is still in the shop and not fixed. I have just about decided to give up on it, and do not even know if the batteries have been sent or received since promised by Ryobi last month. Based I my experience, I would stay away from this mower.
where I live its over 90 cents a kilowatt. And you can double that cost pretty much for the delivery cost fee, but not bad ide say
Good to Know.. Thanks
Cool mower been waiting for this video and thanks for sharing 😂
Thank You for waiting...
I appreciated the info thanks much. My opinion isn't necessarily the right one, but I come up with $112 / year operating cost as lead acid batteries are consumable resource equating to roughly 90% of your true cost. Maximizing the life of your batteries is one way to drastically reduce your cost to operate, treat them like family. Lead acid do not like high drain, do not like extreme heat, do not like being drained dead, do not like being repeatedly partial charged. They are finicky & expensive (per cycle).
I'm evaluating whether to get electric / gas and the cost of fuel storage should be considered since it works our to be fifteen times more expensive than the electric itself in your case. You may get more than 3 years from lead acid but I doubt it, internet searches seem to support my instinct on this. The estimate of $125 per replacement battery was a guess based on recent experience.
Electric: 60 Kwh * $.20 = $12.00 /year
Electric Storage/Delivery: 12 v Lead Acid ~$125 * 4 = $500 / 3 yr. life (optimistic) is $166 /year
Yearly operating cost (30 cuts) of around $112
Per cut cost of $3.17 or little over a gallon of gasoline.
I'm surprised they use lead acid, but those are the cheapest to buy, but die quickly (maintenance item). When they put Lifep04/Lithium batteries the cost per cycle will drop but initial cost is higher, that mower with lithium would be at least $600+ higher. I still may go w/ electric & replace the LA batteries with something better when they die, or use them in my solar array which is easier on a lead acid & swap out for my 38120 8 ah packs.
All GREAT information you are sharing with everyone... THANK YOU so very much
Rich, do you think it will be possible, down the road, to directly switch out the SLA batteries for lithium iron phosphate? I’ve seen some videos and read some articles that make this claim, and they even say that you can keep the same charger. Just maintain the same voltage and the same amp hours.
DrgnFlys if you do that I think you’d have to use a stand-alone charger. The charger built in to the mower would not be compatible
Thanks for this review. I'm currently deciding between this and a cub cadet rzt. I have about an acre of grass area to cut. I'm waiting to see when they will drop the price and if they will make some improvements for the 2019 model.
Not yet but one day I will get one of those.
All in time, right. THANKS
🌸Very nice Mark. You got me sold on this brand.🌸
When your other mower needs replace, it is worth a look at. THANKS. I was happy that it can also pull over 200 pounds of produce in the wagon behind it.
That's really cool. I didn't even know Ryobi made a mower. I saw your thumbnail and was shocked. We use solar energy, so it wouldn't cost us anything to charge that up.👍👊 Great review.
Very good point. THANK YOU.
Can’t wait till I can get a commercial unit that’ll last 10 hours.
That would be nice.
Hera ya go...
meangreenproducts.com/cxr5260/
Just $20,000.
There are lithium ion batteries for gulf carts and other equpment. Id love to install lithium ion battery in that. Could probably store 2x power and be able to use for mowing in nice neighborhoods.
You mean .40 dollars or .40 cents?
40 cents
I have REALLY enjoyed Ryobi's 18V+ tool line. This mower looks like it is designed to be safe (Voltage when compared to EV cars) for the average joe to work on. If it will cut 2 whole acres on a single charge then it is a perfectly sized battery bank for a 1 acre yard. Not fully discharging batteries enables them to last drastically longer/handle more charging cycles.
Also... I LOVE that it just simply uses 4 12V batteries!!! No special expensive battery packs to replace in the future. I could even do a battery upgrade to some deep cycle Lithium batteries in 10yrs when the stock ones wear out. Drastically increasing performance on MANY levels.
Also, A battery cart like this would easily double as a home battery backup. It would compliment some solar panels nicely! That alone would make the extra price tag worth it.
Meter use : YOUTHINK 614405599092 Electricity Usage Monitor Power Meter Plug Home Energy Watt Volt Amps Wattage KWH Consumption Analyzer with Digital LCD Display Overload Protection, 6.1" 1.2" 2.8", White
Nice, seems ideal in combination with solar panels.
I use a windmill, have 2 on the farm. THANKS
@@iamorganicgardening would love to see a vid about these windmills
Just imagine what your costs will be when you need to replace the batteries.
It cost more to get hearing aids from loud gas engines..
So if I buy one of these and cut my half acre, at 9 cents per KW, then it will cost me about 10 cents. Hmmm :-)
It will actually be more like 6.6 cents.The way the numbers were rounded added 38% to the kWh usage. 55kW/37.9hrs = 1.466kWh per acre, half acre would be .733kWh * .09 = .066 cents per 1/2 acre. This is just like an electric car, so much more efficient but more expensive upfront cost. The other benefits are being much quieter, no fumes, no oil or gas to mess around with and no engine to worry about not running right, needing a new carburetor, spark plug, ignition coil, air cleaner, etc. I'm really over all the hassles of internal combustion engines. You still have blades to sharpen or change but the operating cost is so much cheaper and the less hassle of maintenance actually makes me want to use it. It really is so much nicer to be able to fuel your lawn mower from an electrical outlet. They suggest you just leave it plugged in all the time when not in use to get the best battery life and like the Rich said above, don't discharge it any more than necessary, lead acid batteries like to be fully charged and not too deeply cycled.
I do think his 3 yr life cycle is a low estimate unless you need to drain the batteries near full discharge every time you mow or don't plug it in every time and leave them partially charged. They should last longer than that if you keep it plugged in all the time. And even when they do start to hold less charge, they will just start to run down quicker. They won't need to be changed until the capacity is close to what it takes to mow your lawn.
@@EVMANVSGAS I actually bought one of these right after my comment. On average to cut my 3/4 acre costs 9 to 10 cents per cut according to my Kill-A-Watt meter, at 9 cents KWH billing.
now imagine if your vehicles were electric..... great video!
Both the car and tractor in 7 years..THANK YOU.
A nice breakdown on the run costs of the Ryobi riding mower. I've got a little 40v push mower from them and I just love it for the smaller areas but would love to upgrade to something like this one day for the larger patches!
Thank You..
I'm surprised that they are using lead acid batteries
It is due the AMPS you need. It uses 75 or 100 amps at 48 volts. Very Costly to do any other type. THANKS for asking.
you lost me at "lead acid" i will buy the lithium version
A lot of people dismiss this machine because of the lead-acid batteries - and I think that's a mistake. Lead-acid is actually a better choice in this application. They are MUCH less expensive (both to buy and to replace when the time comes) and they are not as particular about how you charge them. Lithium ion would be much lighter, but weight really doesn't matter here like it does in a car or a power tool you have to lug around. In fact, I think the heavier batteries, set very low in the frame, make the mower more stable than it would be with lithium-ion. This is technology that's been around for decades... it's basically a mini golf cart with a cutting deck... so it should be very reliable for many years to come. I love mine!
@@ZZZRaven65 for the price of this machine it should have lithium.not to mention the charge cycles difference is huge.
the lead will die at around 1000 charges vs lithium will go on for 5 to 10 years the only thing that happens is that it will level off at around 80 percent "just like a tesla"
that is the problem. the company wants you to buy a new mower soon and if your mower does not need service parts like a engine does and the mower last for a long time the company cant sell you anything substantial
@@raaah It would be nearly DOUBLE this price with lithium... and then only people who can afford Teslas would buy it.
@@ZZZRaven65 not today! you can build a replacement for that lead acid with 18650 cells for $200 they can do it way cheaper.
remember they already use those batteries in all thier tools now and have been for a decade.
@@raaah That's interesting, but still double the cost of the lead-acid... and you'd still have the more finicky charging requirements of the lithium (I tried one in one of my motorcycles and it's very easy to kill them if you don't charge them correctly or allow the charge to get too low - and they become weaker in cold weather). Anyway, the point is there are pros and cons to both and you shouldn't overlook this great machine just because it has lead-acid batteries. They do the job very well and should last 5-7 years with proper care. I'm sure it will be possible to replace them with lithium at that time if that's what you really want. ...and I might if the cost is the same, though I may just stick with lead-acid BECAUSE of the weight and the stability it adds to the machine.
👍
THANK YOU.
Nice video Mark.. here in Mass we pay approx. 25 cents a KWH if you add in all the delivery, fuel, and extra charges... but still that's approx. 45.8 cents per acre....I'm going to keep my Scag mower though....
Thanks For the info... I have a list of 10 extra charges added in.. Like surcharge for a squirrel to walk on it.
40¢ a cut! so the tractor was given to you and all thos cost, wear and tear dont count? your time is free? you should scream it to your naghbor. lol ok i get it your talking only about your energy consumption. nice lawn mower
You note is well Taken.. THANK YOU. Enjoy
Unfortunately, the true cost to run this unit is much higher. You need to include the 4 batteries at ~$250 each, which last no more than 5 years on average. So amortize this at $200/year to cover battery. Now it's much less competitive. This is the main negative of this Ryobi, as I see it.
My original 75 ahr. batteries lasted 57 months, 152 hrs. of use, 235 mows, and 2,082 charges. The mower saved $685 in gas and maintenance costs in that time period after the cost of electricity. A new set of four 100 ahr. batteries cost $660. And it's more than 15 times cheaper to run than a comparable ICE mower just on fuel cost alone without the usual ICE maintenance requirements. Don't see it being less competitive.
G
Thanks