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> Proponents of the law users of electric power equipment will save money over time because the amount of electricity used to charge the batteries or power the

• chrisseaton 5y ago
  > if that was truly the case, then wouldn't battery powered equipment have won the market already? That's always the risk of arguing that it's in people's interests to already be doing something!
• Tronno 5y ago
  Plug-in gardening equiment also exists, along with extension cords that should work with a yard of that size.
  • bjt2n3904 5y ago
    My grandmother's townhouse had a 6 x 8' strip of grass to mow, and had a plug in mower. It worked great. I'm all for picking the tools that work best for your situation. But don't say, "And I hereby decree that everyone will now use this technology."
    • bombcar 5y ago
      For something that small even a simple push unpowered mower would work.
    • tialaramex 5y ago
      But they didn't decree that "everybody will now use this technology". They just outlawed something harmful. You're quite free to hire a goat, use a rake, plenty of options.
• rootusrootus 5y ago
  In particular, I'm skeptical of the real expected cost savings over time. Electricity is cheaper than gasoline, but batteries for portable equipment tend to be very expensive, and how long do they last? Especially since manufacturers have historically changed the battery interface substantially every few years, forcing people to upgrade their equipment. Maybe that's changing, though, it does seem like the latest iteration of DeWalt batteries have been around considerably longer than the previous generation was.
  • bjt2n3904 5y ago
    I've bought three of them -- I'm actually using DeWalt because of that. But the batteries all arrived and refused to charge. I probed them with a multimeter, and found the cell voltage was quite low. Hooking it up to a constant current lab supply for ~30 minutes raised the cell voltage enough to get the charger to accept it... but I've only had one run with them. I hope they'll work again.
    • rootusrootus 5y ago
      I'm a heavy DeWalt user and I'm already a little salty sometimes about how much they charge for their batteries. If they change up the standard again so I need adapters or new tools, I'm going to switch manufacturers altogether. So far I like their stuff well enough, thankfully I haven't run into any problems with new batteries not working out of the box yet. Knock on wood
      • bjt2n3904 5y ago
        It's like... a handful of 18650 batteries and a metal tab. Legitimately, we should be able to make our own with a 3D printer and Amazon.
        • bombcar 5y ago
          They really are - at least for Milwaukee almost all the smarts are in the tool itself and not in the pack. But never buy a pack - always wait for a sale or deal and get the batteries free with tool (or tool free with batteries).
• lowkj 5y ago
  I think this is actually the system working. The benefits of a tiny proportion of the population (lawn care companies) don’t outweigh everyone else. As a whole, the people decided that clean air and less noise pollution warranted a change. Maybe it will cost more in the near term to achieve those goals. But, it’s a level playing field. The costs will not be borne by the lawn care companies but by society at large. If the price of providing lawn care truly goes up then all lawn care providers will charge more. Society at large was already paying the costs of air / noise pollution.
  • bombcar 5y ago
    Heh replace “lawn care companies” with “immigrants” and it reads much different.
• Jtsummers 5y ago
  Just because something is better (by various metrics) doesn't mean it will have "won the market". That's never been how things have worked, "the market" is far from perfect.
• Kim_Bruning 5y ago
  I've used extension cord based equipment in several countries (places with large lawns and places with small lawns). You do have to keep track of the cord at all times (lest you mow the cord in two) , but it's not a huge bother.