I had an electric lawn mower it was great compared to gas mainly due to it being so quiet.<p>Charging wasn't too bad at first one battery for the front yard and one for the back. But then one battery would not charge as much or run for as long as when new. The store had moved on to new models so I couldnt buy a battery in store. Even if I could it was expensive $100, the mower cost $250. Online even the manufacturer seemed to have moved on and not have the battery type. But if it did price plus shipping and tax would be high.<p>It cut grass OK but if it was too long it would eat up the battery or stall. The grass catcher bag would also require more from the battery.<p>One day at three years old thw mower just quit. The good battery is OK so it must be the mower motor.<p>I looked at electric but the new ones are $500 they took a big jump in price. I bought a new gas mower.
The part of this that is actually worrying to me is this also includes gas, diesel, and propane powered electric generators.<p>My parents live multiple hours north of the bay in the woods along the border of Jackson state forest and rely on their generator a few times a year. Their property is heavily wooded (lots of coastal redwoods) and on the north facing side of a mountain (it’s in the shade most of the day for most of the year), making both home solar and wind impractical.<p>With PG&E doing power cuts, they need some way to power the fridge, furnace, and sump pump. They had their power cut for two weeks at the beginning of this year because of a winter storm, and had to run the generator a bunch. It’s one thing to have backup batteries to cover a day or two without power, but they’d need half a megawatt hour of batteries to cover the multiple week outages they’ve already experienced.<p>It’s one thing to convert equipment from gas to electric where it makes sense, a wholesale ban on fuel powered equipment regardless of the situation is a bit asinine.
I agree with all of this simply on grounds of noise pollution. My neighbor had been running a fucking 2 stroke pressure washer engine all weekend. I'm sure he thinks he's being helpful cleaning all that concrete that people drive on, but it's hell to live next to. At what point do you get to call the cops on someone for this?
This only applies to sales of new equipment starting in 2024. Existing equipment isn't banned.<p>Good move, IMO. Electric yard equipment is now good enough that gas alternatives aren't necessary in most cases. Lawn care professionals will have to make a moderate investment in batteries up front, but even those are becoming more affordable and easier to charge on the go.<p>The combination of multi-battery chargers and vehicles with built-in AC inverters (new electric F-150 is brilliant) means the batteries can even be charged straight off of the truck, eliminating the need to carry gasoline around or even stop at gas stations at all.
Totally second this but on a different ground. It's simply the noise it makes.<p>Many people have been left trapped at home, working remotely as a result of Covid. A noisy machine, such as a gas-powered leaf blower, can disrupt a peaceful neighborhood day. Imagine your neighbor to your left mowing the lawn at 8 a.m., then neighbor to your right at 9 a.m., then another cross the street started at 10 a.m., and on and on.. It made our already dismal lockdown, stay-at-home life even more despised!<p>We are in dire need of much quieter neighborhood leaf blower.
> New portable gas-powered generators also must be zero-emissions by 2028<p>Fascinated by this large scale "green washing" taking place.<p>As of today 50% of the electricity made in california comes from natural gas...<p>On top of that an extra 37% of california electricity is imported from others states which are running mostly of natural gas...<p>You can also add an extra 30% of energy coming from petrol for cars , public transport and so forth.<p>Yet they go after "wind blower".<p>It baffles me.
Good. Few sounds are more grinding than stupid leaf blowers<p>They for hours on end and kick up tons of dust for people with asma. With zero actual before other than a pretty looking patch of concrete<p>They should just be banned in all forms as they serve very little positive with much larger negatives
Landscaping companies will pass their transition costs on to their (generally rich-ish and/or corporate) customers, who have been benefiting disproportionately from what is essentially a commons, for a long time. The majority of people meanwhile, mow their own lawns, and will find the typical battery-powered mower cost-effective, adequate to the task, quieter, and more convenient because there's no need to bring fuel from off site.
These engines are not great and I don’t mind the ban in my town. That said it was temporarily an excuse for people to be incredibly rude to folks who keep our homes maintained. I paid a my landscaper’s fine while they figured out the ordinance.<p>Reading a little further this is a comprehensive ban on an engine class…I wonder if the CA legislature understands that small engine chainsaws are an essential tool in wildland firefighting?
It's funny that people who go out of their way to announce their "support" for marginalized people don't bother asking the gardeners who use them <i>why</i> they use them.<p>In California those are overwhelmingly Mexican, and they're working in the hot sun to feed their families. They use a leaf blower because it lets them get done faster and make a little more money.
How will non-hydrocarbon engines polute less when you produce electricity by burning hydrocarbons, 47% for California according to <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_California" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_California</a><p>Then, are you considering power converting inefficiencies, relying in a distribution matrix, burdening the local power production, maybe making prices go up, and adding toxic batteries that end up in a land fill ?<p>But for people money and beautiful grass is more important than the environment<p>Edit: Spelling
Portland banned leafblowers...by city employees.<p>So all the private companies out there are still making everyone miserable at least once a week. Such obnoxious machines.
About time. They are also an incredible noise problem.<p>There are other problems with blowers - they’re generally bad for the soil, but I’ll take the small win.
I'm guessing this also affects ultralight aircraft (offroad small engine). It would be nice if CA is going to pursue this if they could also make a push to increase the FAA allowed weight limit to 300lbs (equivalent of 254 lbs empty + 5 gal fuel, not counting ballistic parachute). Battery weight makes it tricky to meet the weight limit.
It would be more significative to REDUCE the spent power, instead of changing the power storage from hydrocarbon to battery, e.g. change the grass to something that doesn't require trimming as often, or at all, like clovers.<p>But for people, beautiful grass is more important than the environment.
Perhaps there can be a different fuel? Phase these things out in a reasonable way?<p>That's a lot of gear needing to be replaced, and in many cases, replaced with far less effective equipment.
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