Lithium-Ion powered snow blower

[Cujet]

Yesterday I saw an Ego mower with a 56 Volt 7.5 amp hour battery, which comes to 420 watt-hours. That got me wondering how much gasoline would be required to produce the same amount of power. The EPA claims that a gallon of gas is equal to 33.7 kWH of electricity.

One way to help compare a gas lawn mower to an electric is to use BSFC as a basis for the work you can achieve with the fuel. The Honda 160cc mower engine consumes 286 gm fuel per HP hour at full load. (just as a side note, generally, the larger the "small engine" of the same design, the more fuel efficient it is with regard to BSFC)

286 (or about 0.64 pounds fuel) x 2hp in tall grass, which means the mower will consume about 1.3 pounds fuel per hour. Not too far off for many mowers here in FL (or about 1HP in light normal cutting and bagging)

The EGO can produce about 45 minutes of modest cutting, of about 1HP output. Also about right for the specs.



The above helps explain why the EGO mower needs only a 450 watt hour battery, while the snow blower needs 2ea 560 watt hour batteries and can only work for 13 minutes during full load testing.


Conclusion: Small gas engines are not efficient, mowers don't consume a lot of power.

 

[andyd]

I'm impressed by my brother's li-on powered chainsaw. In size and weight, it matches my Stihl FarmBoss. I only use it a tank at a time, for my sake, not the saw's. Bro sez the runtime on a full battery is roughly equal to a full tank of gas. Maybe 45 mins. Fine for cutting wood. First snow of the season was a sloppy mess that took 2 hrs to clear the driveway. Used maybe a qt of gas. I think there is a few more storms left in my 24" Ariens, I repowered with a 212cc Predator that will start 1st or 2nd pull. I'm doubting a battery powered snow blower has the power density for my needs

 

[RazorsEdge]

I'm impressed by my brother's li-on powered chainsaw. In size and weight, it matches my Stihl FarmBoss. I only use it a tank at a time, for my sake, not the saw's. Bro sez the runtime on a full battery is roughly equal to a full tank of gas. Maybe 45 mins. Fine for cutting wood. First snow of the season was a sloppy mess that took 2 hrs to clear the driveway. Used maybe a qt of gas. I think there is a few more storms left in my 24" Ariens, I repowered with a 212cc Predator that will start 1st or 2nd pull. I'm doubting a battery powered snow blower has the power density for my needs

I'll be getting either the 21-inch ego snowblower or their 2-stage