Electric Lawn Mower Manufacturers

 Popular Mechanics recently published an article titled "The 8 Best Electric Lawn Mowers of 2024". That got me thinking about a replacement for my 30-year-old gas powered Lawn Boy mower. It still runs, but it is getting harder to find the 2-cycle oil that you need to mix with the gas. They used to have it at every gas station in town. But now, you have to order it online or drive to the nearest Arrow hardware store. My neighbors to the right and left have both switched to electric mowers. The advantages of an electric mower are that they are quiet, and you don't have to mess with the gas and oil. Many are now just as powerful as a gas mower with all the same features. Electric mowers cost just as much as a gas and replacement, or spare batteries, are rather expensive.

California has banned the sale of gas-powered mowers starting in 2024 and Minnesota has introduced a bill that would ban the sale of non-electric lawn equipment. With a mandate that everyone's next mower needs to be electric, I wanted to look at some of the companies that make electric mowers. You would think that they are making tons of money, but that isn't the case. Maybe it is too early in the replacement cycle, or because only one state has a ban on gas mowers. It could be that we are still in the early adopter stage, kind of like what happened with electric vehicles. Electric mowers have been around for a while. The early ones needed an extension cord. You can still buy a mower that needs a cord, but what we are looking at here, are the latest battery-operated models. Here are some of the popular lawn equipment manufacturers out there: Ego, Echo, Ryobi, Toro, Craftsman, Worx, and Husqvarna. 

Only one of these is what I would consider an American company. Toro is based in Bloomington, MN. The others are owned by companies based in foreign countries like China, Japan, and Sweden. Ego is a mower that you find in a lot of retail stores, but they are owned by a Chinese holding company. The only company I would consider buying stock in is Toro (TTC). As of today, the stock price is $96 per share. In the past year, the stock has traded in a range between $80 to $102. Toro equipment is popular with lawn care professionals. The home lawncare market is saturated with mowers from all of the non-domestic manufacturers listed above. It is unlikely that Toro will see a spike in sales with all of the competition in the home lawncare market. But they may see a small bump is sales as pros switch to battery mowers in the coming years. I would probably buy a Toro to replace my Lawn Boy, instead of one of the mower brands you find at the local home center. For now, I'll have to keep using it until it breaks. You can still buy a Lawn Boy, but they only have 3 gas powered models to choose from. Curious enough, The Toro Company acquired Lawn-Boy in 1989 and discontinued production of most of its equipment.