About the Electric vs Gas Mower
The Electric vs Gas Lawn Mower Calculator focuses specifically on mowing, estimating the annual cost and CO2 emissions of a gas mower against an electric one based on how often and how long you mow. It is a narrower, mower specific companion to the site's general lawn equipment calculator, using fixed consumption and rate assumptions so you only need to supply mowing frequency, session length, and gas price.
How It Works
You enter mows per year, hours per mow, and your local gas price. The calculator multiplies mows by hours to get total annual mowing hours, then applies fixed fuel use and energy use rates per hour to that total for gas and electric mowers respectively, converting each to a dollar cost. Gas gallons used are also converted into a CO2 emissions figure for the gas mower.
Examples
Default Mowing Season
At 30 mows a year, 0.75 hours per mow, and $3.50 gas, total mowing time is 22.5 hours a year, working out to about $23.63 in annual gas mower costs versus $4.32 for electric, and roughly 60.0 kg of CO2 from the gas mower.
Shorter Season, Higher Gas Price
At 40 mows a year, 0.5 hours per mow, and $4.00 gas, total mowing time is 20 hours. Gas mower costs come to about $24 a year versus $3.84 for electric, with roughly 53.3 kg of CO2 produced by the gas mower.
Advantages
- Needs only three inputs, mowing frequency, session length, and gas price, making it fast to run without hunting down technical specs.
- Isolates mowing specifically from other yard equipment, useful when a mower is the only gas tool a household still owns.
- Surfaces the CO2 figure for the gas mower on its own, making the emissions impact of mowing frequency visible at a glance.
Common Mistakes
- Assuming this tool lets you adjust the electric mower's power draw or electricity rate, when both are fixed constants in the calculation.
- Underestimating hours per mow for larger lots, which understates both the gas cost and the CO2 figure proportionally.
- Comparing this mower only result directly against whole yard totals from the general lawn equipment calculator without accounting for the different fixed assumptions each tool uses.
Edge Cases to Watch For
- Unlike the site's broader lawn equipment calculator, the electric rate fixed at $0.16 per kWh and both consumption rates are hard coded here, so this tool is meant for a quick mower only estimate rather than matching a specific mower model or utility rate.
- Gas price is the only fuel cost variable you control, so results shift proportionally with local gas prices but not with efficiency differences between mower brands.
- A very short mowing season or infrequent mowing produces small total hours and correspondingly small cost and CO2 figures, which can understate savings for properties mowed on an unusual schedule.
Common Use Cases
- Homeowners deciding whether a mower alone is worth converting to electric, separate from trimmers or blowers.
- Anyone comparing seasonal gas costs across different mowing frequencies before buying a new mower.
- People wanting a fast, low input estimate of mowing related CO2 emissions without configuring detailed equipment specs.