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The businesses will just pass the cost on and be fine. The guy who uses the $100 Home Depot weed whacker to do his own lawn is the one who gets screwed because

The businesses will just pass the cost on and be fine. The guy who uses the $100 Home Depot weed whacker to do his own lawn is the one who gets screwed because he now either has to wrangle a cord everywhere or spend much more for equivalent performance from an electric. (on second thought string trimmers are low enough power that a cheap battery one should work for a homeowner but for blowers, chainsaws and most other landscaping power equipment my point still stands, you gotta spend big bucks on the 36-48v stuff that performs about the same as the ICE powered $99.99 special)

Jtsummers 6y ago
My electric trimmer was not much more expensive than the gas one, and it's much quieter and the battery can be used in any of my other Ryobi products (chosen deliberately for this purpose). The battery easily lasts for my entire yard, but if I had a bigger lot (like my parents, around 1 acre), I might need a second battery.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  For everything under ~4hp electric is definitely "nicer" in every way but only if you pony up for "nice". The 18v trimmers and chainsaws that are comparable in cost to the low end 2-stroke stuff aren't nearly as good (yet).
- lostlogin 6y ago
  I’m a huge fan of Stihl and their range of battery tools. One weird little idiosyncrasy is that while their battery range are interchangeable, they don’t work as you’d imagine. The bigger batteries have more charge, but the biggest one also gives more power/torque (when used on a chainsaw). It’s something to do with the cells being wired in parallel or something like that. The difference is very noticeable.
  - Zak 6y ago
    Batteries experience a drop in voltage when a load is applied. The magnitude of this drop varies based on the design and chemistry of the battery, and the load per cell is obviously lower if there are more cells.
core-questions 6y ago
I wrangle a cord. It's honestly not that bad at all. A couple techniques like tying cords together help a lot. It's honestly not a big hassle; and if the law mandates it, then all of these businesses will adapt.
Apocryphon 6y ago
Sounds like a clear market opportunity for a startup to step in, invent a better electric weed whacker, get into YC, and then be acquired by Tesla. Why question the system?
- bluGill 6y ago
  The big weed trimmer companies already make battery powered trimmers. Some of them even have batteries that can be worn as a backpack and can run all day, compared to stopping every 15 minutes to put more fuel in. (as a user this is a mis-feature - (I need that rest, but I supposed the boss likes it, and the people who use these should be in better shape than me)
anigbrowl 6y ago
This is the least persuasive argument against regulation I hear. Businesses eat the cost of replacing equipment on a regular basis and know it's not in their own interest to punish their customers. If a business owner is so indifferent to externalities or so tight fisted that they can't or won't move to a cleaner options, they will be replaced, and good riddance.

Jtsummers 6y ago

My electric trimmer was not much more expensive than the gas one, and it's much quieter and the battery can be used in any of my other Ryobi products (chosen deliberately for this purpose). The battery easily lasts for my entire yard, but if I had a bigger lot (like my parents, around 1 acre), I might need a second battery.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
For everything under ~4hp electric is definitely "nicer" in every way but only if you pony up for "nice". The 18v trimmers and chainsaws that are comparable in cost to the low end 2-stroke stuff aren't nearly as good (yet).
lostlogin 6y ago
I’m a huge fan of Stihl and their range of battery tools. One weird little idiosyncrasy is that while their battery range are interchangeable, they don’t work as you’d imagine. The bigger batteries have more charge, but the biggest one also gives more power/torque (when used on a chainsaw). It’s something to do with the cells being wired in parallel or something like that. The difference is very noticeable.
- Zak 6y ago
  Batteries experience a drop in voltage when a load is applied. The magnitude of this drop varies based on the design and chemistry of the battery, and the load per cell is obviously lower if there are more cells.

core-questions 6y ago

I wrangle a cord. It's honestly not that bad at all. A couple techniques like tying cords together help a lot. It's honestly not a big hassle; and if the law mandates it, then all of these businesses will adapt.

Apocryphon 6y ago

Sounds like a clear market opportunity for a startup to step in, invent a better electric weed whacker, get into YC, and then be acquired by Tesla. Why question the system?

bluGill 6y ago
The big weed trimmer companies already make battery powered trimmers. Some of them even have batteries that can be worn as a backpack and can run all day, compared to stopping every 15 minutes to put more fuel in. (as a user this is a mis-feature - (I need that rest, but I supposed the boss likes it, and the people who use these should be in better shape than me)

anigbrowl 6y ago

This is the least persuasive argument against regulation I hear. Businesses eat the cost of replacing equipment on a regular basis and know it's not in their own interest to punish their customers. If a business owner is so indifferent to externalities or so tight fisted that they can't or won't move to a cleaner options, they will be replaced, and good riddance.