Battery Powered Lawn Mower

by Bill
(Salt Lake City)

Is it possible to convert a gas powered lawn mower into a battery powered lawn mower? Has anybody done it? Could this be done with a smaller riding mower or even a push mower...and what parts do you recommend for this? Does somebody sell a kit?


Hi, Bill -
Oh, yes, it's possible.

Steve Clunn converted the commercial lawn mower in the picture above to run on battery power, but he says you can convert any size lawn mower you like to run on batteries.

His company, Grassroots EV, sells the parts you'll need to convert your gas powered mower to run on batteries, and Steve says he walks his clients through the conversion process step by step.

He doesn't sell kits, but you can buy all the parts from him. "I'd recommend getting the same hp ELECTRIC motor as the gas motor that was on the gas mower," Steve says. "My mower has been on the job for over 2 years, and I've enjoyed every day of it."

He offers these four bits of advice:

• If you're going below 10 HP, a golf cart controller would do the job.


• A mower that runs the blades and the drive train with BELTS will be the easiest.


• If you can, get an electric motor with the same size shaft as the gas mower..so you can use the pullies.


• Don't go for long run time (lots of batteries) as short charging is possible (you're not going to get stranded anywhere, are you?) and long charging requires many (heavy) batteries on the mower.