After a grueling evening of neighborhood lawn tractor races, I decided to look up ways to soup up my tractor to really beat the pants off my fellow racers. I'm seeing shades of Tim Allen in me already. Although the statistic escapes me, I seem to remember somewhere that our garden equipment engines produce a significant quantity of pollutants. I found the following link during my web search. It's nice to see the hybrid revolution is starting to influence other manufacturers. www.electrifyingtimes.com/uqm_deere_hybrid_tractor.htm
As long as the price wasn't too out of whack, I'd purchase a hybrid lawn mower in a second. As dreichla indicated, lawn equipment really generates a great deal of pollution. You can read about this at the article linked below. Clean Air Lawn Care
They already have rechargeable lawn mowers. I use a corded electric. The cord is a pain, but not nearly as much of a pain as fueling, starting, tuning up and changing oil in a gas mower.
I have a cordless rechargable mower and trimmer. They work great as long as you don't go several weeks between mowings and that you lawn isn't huge.
I've got too many hilly acres to mow so the corded (and cordless) mowers are not feasible. But I too, would jump at a chance to purchase a hybrid lawn tractor. Now - with a multi function display, a GPS NAV system to figure out the most efficient mowing patterns, and stealth mode for peace and quiet in the neighborhood - we'd all be as happy as we are with our cars. Then we could brag about things like mowing hundreds of acres on one gallon of gas - or - I went the whole summer on one quart!
They should be able to invent small robotic electric mowers that work on their own. Without the rider, engine, handles, etc. on the mower, not as much energy is needed. Make it work like those robotic vacuum cleaners. Maybe even with a solar top that would extend how long a charge would last. Since you don't have to be there, it could be small and work slow and not be an energy hog. You could even have a home base that it seeks out to recharge itself. Use some sort of lens at grass level to seek out the tall grass that needs mowing and skip the parts that are done or don't need it.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darwood\";p=\"108527)</div> Funny that you mention that. . . http://www.onrobo.com/reviews/At_Home/Mowers/
Cool! $500 is pretty reasonable too. You just have to rake pretty often in the fall since there is no bag. I do like to mulch and collect the leaf/grass mixture in the fall. I can dump the mower bag right on the garden for mulch or compost it. An electric mower would mean I'd have to rake it up. I wonder if you have to run wires around everything, like sidewalks and such, or can you just have the yard perimeter lined and it will skip over sidewalks
