How We Compared Gas and Electric Lawn Mowers?

Gas vs. Electric Lawn Mower

Gas vs. Electric Lawn Mower – In this article, our team of engineers analyzed years of lawn mower test data to develop a tool that lets us evaluate the scores of many models that are electric and gas-powered.

We evaluated the average scores of electric and gas walk-behind mowers on performance tests for cuts evenness and side discharge and mulching, bagging and handling.

Scores are numeric and range from a value ranging from 1- (poor) up to five (excellent). We also looked into cutting and charge times for each electric model and the entire range of electric models.

A point to be noted It is important to note that averages are inaccurate because they contain outliers that are excellent or extremely bad. Bell curves reveal where the majority of models of every category fall in terms of performance.

Remember that we designed this head-to-head to evaluate models across different categories. All that is important for your backyard is the performance of the particular machine you choose.

We’ve included top-rated models for each category at the bottom of this page. These models were compared during our tests, and which one came out the best:

Noise

We assess mower noise in the ear and also at 25 feet away to simulate the exposure of a neighbor. The models that scored poor or fair on our tests were above 85 decibels within the ear, a mark where hearing protection is advised. In contrast to other scores, the noise score ranges between .5 to 5.5.

Which is better? If you’re concerned about your hearing and the peace of your neighbourhood, then you’ll change to electric to speed up sound. When taken at the ear, this is the widest gap between the typical scores of 5.1 for electric against a whopping–2.4 for gas. The gas model, which was the loudest, got a score of one (poor) compared to the most audible electric models, which had a score of 3.3 (good).

The tale is impressive when you are at an altitude of 25 feet, which has a score averaged in the range of 5.4 on electric mowers, compared to 3.2 in gas-powered models. The gas with the lowest noise score got 4.2 against the quietest electric’s 5.5. The most raucous gas model scored 1.6 to the loudest electric’s 4.9. This means that the loudest electric mower beat the quietest gas mower by 0.7%.

Handling

This assessment includes the ease of operation of control of the drive (on auto-propelled mowers), pulling and pushing to make U-turns, and operating the mower in difficult areas.

Which is better? Electric is the leader in handling ease by achieving scores of 4.5 against the gas-powered mower’s 3.9. A few natural gas mowers were rough in handling the mower, with the lowest score at 1.9. Electric mowers scored no lower than 3.3 for handling.

Also Check: What Are The Pros and Cons of An Electric Lawn Mower

Bagging

If you’re a fan of bagging your clippings, you’ll need a mower to fill its bag to its maximum to ensure you don’t need to empty it as frequently. Our test measures the amount the bag could hold before it was filled or the chute became blocked.

Which is better? Gas also beats electrics in this category, however, with some models getting a score of 4.9 against electrics’ high mark of 4.3. For both, the reality is between the two: Most models from both categories fall in the “good” range, ranging from 2.8 to 3.5 for electrics and 3 up to 3.8 in gas.

Mulching

Grass clippings are excellent. The grass clumps aren’t. The test of mulching reveals the fineness of the clippings after being cut, as well as how evenly the mower spreads the clippings across the grass’s surfaces.

Which is better?  Gas is the only exception, by a tiny bit scoring an average of 4.6 against. 4.3 in electric. Similar to cutting evenness, most electrics were scored in the 4 range, with a few under-performers scoring less than 2. However, all the gas mowers we tested scored at least a 4.

Side Discharging

CR suggests leaving your cut grass cuttings on your lawn to help fertilize it. We examine how far and evenly the clippings are distributed from your guide chute.

Which is better?  There is no winner. Scores for side discharge are fairly close to neck-and-neck although a number of electrics tested during our tests failed badly enough to lower a excellent average. A majority of both types landed at the top of the list in this test.

Also Check: Best Electric Riding Lawn Mowers

Cutting Evenness

The evenness of our cut score shows the degree to which a mower is close to leaving an even, smooth lawn.

Which is better? Gas mowers outperform electric when it comes to even cutting, having an average cut of 4.7 against electric’s 4.4. All gas mowers we evaluated were in the top quartile of the scale. (The lowest overall score for gas mowers was good at 3.5.) Electric mowers were in a wider spectrum (from 5 down to 2).

The bottom line The good news is that plenty of electric mowers are comparable to the top gas models in even cutting (just more than half of the electric mowers that we tested scored an outstanding score in this area). However, the chance of picking the wrong gas mower that provides an exact cut is much greater.