Wyn Drabble: Electric trial run for the sake of our planet

Wyn Drabble

OPINION:

Because the planet needs our help I've been toying with the idea of switching to a BEV. I say toying because I feel there are still a number of questions to be answered so turning over a new LEAF is still on the back burner.

I worry, for example, about what happens to all the old batteries, I worry about the range on a single charge, and I worry that all the charging bays in a top-up station might be full at my time of need.

A friend of ours has bought a Jaguar i-Pace and that's an electric car that I do like. I can't wait to see it (and perhaps ride in it). Unfortunately, for me, the price tag is prohibitive. The figure has too many noughts in it. I was thinking more in the $700 to $800 bracket.

So, given my concerns and my financial situation, I haven't made the plunge but I've done the next best thing.

To help the planet, I've bought a battery-powered lawnmower.

It hasn't been an entirely successful purchase; there's not a lot of supermarket shopping you can fit in the catcher (though you can balance a box of beers on the top).

So I've decided to use it just for mowing the lawns instead.

It may not be a Jaguar or a Tesla but it's not unattractive. It's a pretty sort of lime green colour which tones in quite well with the verdant hue of the lawn. And when parked at a rakish angle alongside the house I must say it looks quite snappy.

It also has something I've never seen on a lawnmower before. There, just a little way down the handle and within easy reach, is a drink holder. Whatever will they think of next?

If you'd told me 10 years ago that I would one day be able to mow the lawns while safely carrying and occasionally drinking a mint julep, I would have dismissed you as bonkers.

I've just completed a (julep-free) lawn cut now and, from my few uses so far, I have learned already to recharge the battery straightaway after use so it's ready for next time. When the lawn mowing urge hits me (currently running at once a year), I certainly wouldn't want to be put off by having to wait for the battery to charge first.

My electric mower (EM) is not like my old petrol one (PO) which, at times, used to flood. I have no idea what that means but there was a petrol smell involved and I knew I just had to wait.

Once when the PO wouldn't start I took it to the mower shop and it was diagnosed as suffering from "old petrol". True.

And a couple of times the starting rope broke – I must have jerked too vigorously – and I was left standing helpless with a bit of flaccid rope in my hand while the grass grew longer by the minute beside me.

There is no starter rope on the new one. Slide the charged battery into its compartment, pull a safety lever, press a button and you're away. Or, at least, ready to start pushing it.

The new one still makes a noise but it's not nearly as unpleasant as the racket my PO used to make. It's sort of a "wwhhiirr" rather than an irritating "KARKA KUK, KARKA KUK" or, if it was running out of petrol, more of a "kabloomkubblekubble".

So, because the PO is a goner (G), let's think of the EM as a first step on the ladder (L) to a possible BEV in the future. I'll think of it as a trial run – a TR.

For the planet - FTP.