Two weeks ago, at the Honda North America plant in the tiny town of Swepsonville, the first all-terrain vehicle (ATV) rolled off the assembly line. But the real news from the North Carolina facility is about what the new ATVs are going to replace: gas-powered lawn mowers.
Honda announced last year that it would stop manufacturing gas-powered mowers at the facility, where they’ve been built since 1984. By the end of September, lawn mowers will be replaced by the ATVs “due to market forces such as stricter environmental regulations and shifting customer preferences,” the company said in a statement.
Those preferences are changing fast. In California, the sale of gas-powered lawn machines will be banned entirely, beginning July 2024. Other communities have restricted their use. Market trends show battery-operated and other clean electric options are the future for both Europe and North America. Just 100 miles from Swepsonville is the headquarters of Greenworks, a leading battery-powered mower manufacturer that opened a new production plant this year.
Gas-powered gear is extremely dirty and shifting to electricity is important for sustainability reasons. In the U.S., where (for good or ill) there is a lot of lawn, the gas-powered mowers account for 5% of air pollution, even more in some cities. The 2018 data from the U.S. Department of Transportation puts the total gasoline used for lawn and garden at an estimated 3 billion gallons.
Up until now, the gas-powered mowers used to cut residential lawns still accounted for nearly all the machines produced. In North America, a Power Systems Research (PSR) report forecast a total of 3.8 million lawn mowers manufactured in 2023, with just 249,000 of them electric mowers. However, PSR also expects electric mowers to achieve around 45% to 50% of the U.S. market by 2026.
Europe’s electric mower market was worth US$2.4 billion in 2021, with some estimates of a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.1% from 2022 to 2030 for cordless mowers that typically run on lithium ion batteries.
“Urban green spaces are expected to gain momentum across Europe as these are considered key contributors to sustainability. The EU’S 2030 biodiversity strategy aims at bringing green infrastructure back into cities,” explains one report. “Hence, such initiatives are expected to boost the green areas across Europe, thereby boosting the demand for electric lawn mowers in the market.”
Commercial and robotic applications have gotten a lot of attention, like those used by WINSTONgolf in Germany for the last four years. The combination of solar charging, GPS technology and 133 electric robot mowers keeps the fairways green and the grass cut with precision while reducing carbon emissions.
Schools, parks, and municipal buildings are all moving to electric mowers too, in order to keep their climate goals on target. But so are homeowners across the globe who want to reduce their noise pollution levels as well as their fossil fuel use and carbon footprints.
Electric mower use hasn’t been adopted quickly in the past, either because the cords were a hassle or the battery technology didn’t hold up. But next-generation products seem up to the task, though there can still be issues with battery range depending on the use. Cost has steadily become more affordable, too.
And while Honda won’t be making gas-powered mowers in the U.S. anymore (they haven’t revealed immediate plans to switch to electric machines, either) plenty of other manufacturers are stepping into a lawn and garden market where the transition to clean energy now seems inevitable — and absolutely critical in the face of mounting climate impacts.
