Bolt too expensive for me

[user 744]

I must say that I'm very happy with my corded B&D mower, on my grassy acre.

 

[WetEV]

I used about a gallon of gas a month, and mowing season goes from March to October, sometimes longer. It takes me about 5 or 6 battery charges to mow the lawn. Change oil and filters yearly, spark plugs every 3 or 4 years.

I suspect you have a much shorter mowing season, and a much smaller yard.

This is what drives me nuts about this forum.

Instead of just going the humble route, and admitting that you may have got it wrong, some people here would rather strawman or spin a losing argument - even though it isn't at all relevant to the point I'm making: Sometimes we choose to spend more to be green.

Yes, we sometimes choose to spend more to be green. And sometimes it is break even, and sometimes cheaper to be green. Your case might well be different than mine.

All breakeven calculations start with assumptions as to future cost. Those assumptions are almost surely incorrect. Price of gasoline over the next five years is unknown. And so on. Both your assumptions and my assumptions. Our yards are different. Our climates are different. And so on. If you want to claim your assumptions are correct for everyone everywhere, I'll disagree.

Based on size, it takes me about an hour to mow both mine, and my neighbor's lawn. I'm guessing that's about typical regardless of where you live. Even if my season was twice as long, and it took 2 gallons of gas, that's ~8 bucks per year. Five years of "savings" is $40 + $20 in 2-stroke oil. You can spin it every way from Sunday, but no way, no how is ROI 5 years given my example of what I paid going electric ($550) vs what I could have paid ($275) going gas.

My yard isn't your yard. Takes me more like 5 to 6 hours, not counting recharge time, to mow my yard. More this time of year as the grass is growing fast, less over the summer. My situation is different than your situation. I used a bit over a tank (about 1/4 gallon) a week, and the season is about 7 months long. Call that about 7 gallons per year. Gasoline is cheaper here, a bit under $3/gallon currently, I would save something like $100 over 5 years. I replace filters, you don't. I replace spark plugs, you don't. I put in fuel stabilizer in fall, I suspect you don't. I would spend more for maintenance than you would, near $25 per year or $125 over 5 years. I am not accounting for interest. For electric power, 160 cycles per year at 56v*5Ah at 0.10 USD$ is about $5 per year or $25 over 5 years. I don't account for my time, I'd rather mow than go to the gym. That would have a huge impact on this calculation.

Again, you conveniently ignore the cost of the batteries in your "breakeven point". It costs $298 for a replacement battery for my mower, that I assume will have to be replaced around 5 years down the road. You can buy another $300 mower for the price of one battery.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/EGO-56-Volt-5-0-Ah-Battery-BA2800/206056612

I see $220, not $298. Are you just wrong, or is this CAD$ vs USD$? And if you need to replace a battery every 5 years at about 12 cycles per year, I should have replace my a battery every year at about 160 cycles per year. Or is this just time and temperature shelf life 5 years? Then wouldn't cool and cold winter climates improve life? LEAF battery life varies by at least a factor of 4 over USA climates. Oh, and speaking of LEAF batteries, the Leaf battery model predicts 10 year life in my climate. Would a mower battery be worse? Or better?

It's ok to get it wrong once in a while. It really is. It's painful, but people will respect you for admitting it.

Yes, I might be wrong. So might you. What I was wrong with was saying a "one size fits all" number without pointing out the real complexity.

In my case, if my assumptions are correct and the battery lasts 5 years, I'd be behind a few dollars.
If the battery lasts 6 years, I'm ahead by a few dollars. In any case, the mower is quieter and I don't need to drive to the gas station and fill plastic jugs with explosive, cancer causing nasty fluids. And the air is a little cleaner for everyone.

If my battery lasts 10 years, I'm well ahead.

You might not break even ever, due to battery life and interest, as you don't use a mower as much as I do, even if the battery lasts 10 years.

 

[boltage]

Being green isn't cheap, but rather is usually the choice to pay more.

Actually, there is cheap green and expensive green.

Cheap green involves reducing and reusing, which saves money as well as improving greenness. An example would be choosing as fuel efficient a car as possible for your needs (which is often an inexpensive car like a used second or third generation Prius) and driving it in an economical fashion (avoiding leadfooting the accelerator and brake). Used short range EVs could fall into this category, due to their low resale prices (but see below on the infrastructure issues).

Expensive green is buying leading edge or expensive stuff. A Tesla Model S or X or Toyota Mirai would be the biggest car examples today. The Bolt falls into this category, but not to the extent of those other cars.

With EVs, there is another hurdle in that people need to get past, which is charging infrastructure. Homeowners can install home charging (though that costs money), and have the option of installing solar panels to cancel out the increased electric bill. That may be be more convenient than going to the fuel station. But renters may have limited options for housing that has home charging infrastructure, so depending on less convenient public or workplace charging may be less appealing.

 

[SparkE]

Since this thread has gone WAAAAAY far away from the Bolt, I've locked it. Feel free to debate mowing and battery prices in the off-topic (i.e., non-Bolt) area.