# Electric Lawn Mower vs Gas Savings Calculator Mowing time from lawn area and deck width, then fuel, electricity, maintenance and battery replacement compared. --- - **Canonical URL:** https://dothecalculation.com/calculators/electric-lawn-mower-vs-gas-calculator - **Category:** Eco & Sustainability - **Publisher:** Do The Calculation (https://dothecalculation.com) - **Cost:** Free, no account or sign-up required - **Privacy:** Runs entirely in the browser; inputs are never sent to a server - **Methodology:** https://dothecalculation.com/methodology --- ## Compare an Electric Mower Against a Gas One Mowing time derived from your lawn and cutting width, then fuel, electricity, maintenance and battery replacement priced across the ownership period. - Works out mowing hours from area, swath and walking speed - Includes battery replacement, which decides several comparisons - Reports honestly when gas is cheaper over the horizon ## Quick Answer — Is an Electric Mower Cheaper to Run? To run, yes, by a wide margin. To own, it depends on the lawn and the battery. Start with how long mowing actually takes, because both running costs follow from it rather than from the lawn size directly: **Effective swath = cutting width ÷ 12 × (1 − overlap). Coverage per hour = swath × walking speed × 5,280. Hours = area ÷ coverage.** A **21-inch** mower at **2.5 mph** with **15% overlap** cuts an effective 1.49 ft swath and covers **19,635 sq ft an hour**. A **5,000 sq ft** lawn therefore takes **15.3 minutes**, and **28 mows a season** is **7.13 hours** of mowing. Now the running costs for those hours: • **Gas** — 0.35 gal/hour × 7.13 h = **2.50 gallons** at $3.60 = **$8.98 of fuel**, plus **$85** of oil, filters, plugs and a tune-up, giving **$93.98 a year** • **Electric** — 1.6 kW × 7.13 h = **11.41 kWh** at $0.17 = **$1.94 of electricity**, plus **$15** of maintenance and **$36.67** of annualised battery replacement, giving **$53.61 a year** The electricity itself is almost free. What the electric mower actually costs is **the battery**, and every honest comparison turns on that number. ## How to Use This Calculator: A Typical Suburban Lawn Enter the lawn area, the cutting width of the mower, a realistic walking speed and an overlap allowance. Two and a half miles per hour is a normal walking pace with a mower; 15% overlap is what most people actually do rather than the perfect zero-overlap passes a spec sheet assumes. For the 5,000 sq ft lawn above, with a **$320 gas mower** and a **$480 electric** one, a **$220 battery** replaced every **6 years**, over a **10-year** horizon: • **Annual saving: $40.38** — gas $93.98 against electric $53.61 • **Price gap: $160**, so the premium pays back in **4.0 years** • **Ten-year total: gas $1,259.84, electric $1,016.06** — the electric is **$243.78 cheaper** • **Per mow: $3.36 gas against $1.91 electric** • **Emissions: 22.2 kg CO2 a year from gasoline against 4.2 kg from electricity on an average grid — 17.9 kg saved** Note where the money goes on each side. Almost all the gas cost is maintenance rather than fuel — $85 against $9. Almost all the electric cost is battery amortisation rather than electricity — $36.67 against $1.94. Comparing the two on fuel alone, which most articles do, gets the answer right for the wrong reason and gets it badly wrong on larger lawns. ## A Second Example: When Gas Wins Take a **12,000 sq ft** lawn, a **30-inch** deck, **3 mph**, **30 mows a year**, a **$1,900 gas** machine burning **0.7 gal/hour** with **$140** of annual maintenance, against a **$2,600 electric** one drawing **3.2 kW** with **$30** of maintenance and a **$700 battery pack** on a **6-year** cycle. The bigger deck covers **33,660 sq ft an hour**, so each mow is **21.4 minutes** and the season is **10.70 hours**. Gas burns **7.49 gallons** costing **$26.95**, giving **$166.95 a year** all in. Electric draws **34.2 kWh** costing **$5.82**, but the battery adds **$116.67 a year**, giving **$152.48**. The annual saving collapses to **$14.47** against a **$700 price gap** — a payback of **48.4 years**. Over ten years the gas machine totals **$3,569.52** and the electric **$4,124.85**, so **gas is $555.33 cheaper**. The electric still avoids 53.8 kg of CO2 a year, so the environmental case survives; the financial one does not. The pattern is consistent. Electric wins on small and medium lawns where the fixed cost of battery replacement is spread over a modest price premium. It loses on large lawns where the pack is big, expensive and replaced on the same six-year cycle regardless. The [EV vs gas savings calculator](/calculators/ev-vs-gas-calculator) shows the same battery-cost dynamic playing out on a much larger scale, where it resolves the other way because the fuel saving is enormous. ## What the Money Comparison Leaves Out Three things that matter and do not appear in either total. **Small gas engines pollute out of proportion to their size.** They lack the catalytic converters and closed-loop fuel management that cars have had for decades, so a mower emits hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and fine particulates at rates that make the CO2 comparison the least interesting part of the environmental case. Regulators in several jurisdictions have moved to restrict new small off-road engines specifically for this reason, and the local air-quality argument is considerably stronger than the carbon one. **Noise.** A gas mower typically runs around 95 decibels, an electric one around 75. That is a twentyfold difference in sound intensity, and it is the single change most owners mention unprompted after switching — no ear protection, no waiting until a neighbourly hour, no shouting over it. **Convenience and its limits.** Electric mowers start instantly, need no fuel stabiliser, no winter draining, no carburettor cleaning and no oil changes, which is where their maintenance advantage really comes from. Against that, runtime is finite. A battery that covers 5,000 sq ft comfortably may need a swap mid-mow on 12,000, and a second battery is another few hundred dollars that this calculator only captures if you enter it. Corded electric mowers sidestep the battery question entirely and are dramatically cheaper to own, at the cost of managing a cable. For a small lawn they are the cheapest option by a wide margin, and setting the battery cost to zero here models them directly. For the fuel side of the comparison in isolation, the [fuel cost calculator](/calculators/fuel-cost-calculator) prices gasoline consumption on its own terms. ## Limitations The mowing-time model treats a lawn as an area covered at a steady pace, which flatters any lawn that is not a simple rectangle. Trees, beds, slopes, narrow strips and awkward corners all add time, and a heavily obstructed lawn can take half again as long as the arithmetic suggests. Since both running costs scale with hours, that inflates both sides roughly equally and leaves the comparison broadly intact — but the absolute figures will be low. Fuel consumption and electrical draw are both entered as flat hourly rates, whereas real machines vary substantially with grass height, moisture and thickness. Cutting long wet grass draws far more power and burns more fuel than a light trim, and a battery mower's runtime falls accordingly. Neither the gallons-per-hour nor the kilowatts figure is a constant in practice. Battery degradation is modelled only as a replacement at a fixed interval. Real lithium packs lose capacity gradually, which means shorter runtime and more frequent recharging for years before replacement becomes necessary, and the replacement interval itself depends heavily on storage temperature and charging habits. A pack left on a charger in a hot garage will not last six years. Finally, the comparison assumes both machines last the full horizon and ignores resale value, the embodied emissions of manufacturing either mower or its battery, and the disposal of a lithium pack at end of life. It also assumes flat fuel and electricity prices across ten years, which is not a safe assumption in either direction. ## Related Calculators The [EV vs Gas Savings Calculator](/calculators/ev-vs-gas-calculator) runs the same electricity-against-fuel comparison at vehicle scale, where the fuel saving is large enough to overcome the battery cost that defeats it here. The [E-Bike vs Car Savings Calculator](/calculators/ebike-vs-car-savings-calculator) covers the smaller end of the same question. The [Fuel Cost Calculator](/calculators/fuel-cost-calculator) prices gasoline consumption on its own, and the [Appliance Energy Cost Calculator](/calculators/appliance-energy-calculator) handles the electricity side for everything else that plugs in. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is an electric lawn mower cheaper to run than gas? To run, considerably. On a 5,000 sq ft lawn the electricity costs $1.94 a year against $8.98 of gasoline, and the electric needs far less maintenance. Including battery replacement the annual totals are $53.61 against $93.98 — a saving of $40 a year. ### How long does it take to mow a lawn? A 21-inch mower at 2.5 mph with 15% overlap covers about 19,635 sq ft an hour, so a 5,000 sq ft lawn takes 15.3 minutes. A 30-inch deck at 3 mph covers 33,660 sq ft an hour. Obstacles, slopes and awkward shapes add meaningfully to both figures. ### Does an electric mower pay back its higher purchase price? On a small or medium lawn, yes — the example above paid back a $160 premium in 4.0 years. On a large lawn with an expensive battery pack it may not: the second example had a $700 premium, a $14 annual saving, and a 48-year payback. ### What does battery replacement cost? It is the dominant line item for electric mowers. A $220 pack on a six-year cycle is $36.67 a year, more than eighteen times the electricity it stores. On a large machine a $700 pack is $116.67 a year, which is enough to erase the entire running-cost advantage. ### How much fuel does a lawn mower use? A walk-behind mower typically burns 0.3 to 0.5 gallons an hour, a larger machine around 0.7. On a 5,000 sq ft lawn mowed 28 times that is about 2.5 gallons a season — well under $10 of fuel, which is why maintenance rather than fuel dominates the gas side. ### Are gas mowers really that polluting? For local air quality, yes. Small off-road engines lack the catalytic converters and fuel management cars have had for decades, so they emit hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and particulates far out of proportion to their size. The CO2 comparison is the least interesting part of the environmental case. ### Is a corded electric mower cheaper still? Considerably, because it removes the battery entirely — which is the largest cost on the electric side. Setting battery replacement to zero in this calculator models a corded machine directly. For a small lawn it is the cheapest option by a wide margin, at the cost of managing a cable. ### Will one battery finish my lawn? On a small lawn, comfortably. On a large one, often not — and a second battery is another few hundred dollars that only appears in this comparison if you enter it. Runtime also falls in long or wet grass, which draws far more power than a light trim. ## Related concepts - **Effective Cutting Width** — The deck width minus the overlap between passes. A 21-inch deck mowed with 15% overlap covers an effective 17.85 inches, which is what actually determines how long a lawn takes. - **Battery Amortisation** — The replacement cost of a battery pack spread across its expected life. It is the largest single cost of owning a battery mower, typically many times the electricity the pack ever stores. - **Small Off-Road Engine** — The class of engine used in mowers, blowers and trimmers. Without catalytic converters or closed-loop fuel control, these emit hydrocarbons and particulates far out of proportion to their power, which is why several jurisdictions have moved to restrict new ones. ## Related guides - [EV vs Gas Savings: Compare Fuel Cost, Charging Cost, and Annual Savings](https://dothecalculation.com/blog/green/electric-vehicle-savings-analysis) — Compare electric vehicle charging cost with gasoline fuel cost using annual mileage, gas price, MPG, electricity rate, and EV kWh per mile. - [Fuel Cost Planning Guide: Trip, Commute, and Annual Gas Budget Math](https://dothecalculation.com/blog/hobby/fuel-cost-planning-guide) — Calculate fuel cost from distance, MPG, and gas price, then compare trips, commutes, vehicle efficiency, and annual driving scenarios. ## Related calculators - [EV vs Gas Savings Calculator](https://dothecalculation.com/calculators/ev-vs-gas-calculator) — Compare gasoline costs with electric vehicle charging rates across various mileages to see how much you could save by switching to an EV. - [EV Charging Cost Calculator](https://dothecalculation.com/calculators/ev-charging-cost-calculator) — Calculate your real annual EV charging cost split between home and public charging, including charging loss. - [Carbon Tax Impact Calculator](https://dothecalculation.com/calculators/carbon-tax-impact-calculator) — Convert household fuel and electricity into tonnes of CO2e, price them at any carbon rate, and net off a dividend. - [Double Pane Window Retrofit ROI & Payback Calculator](https://dothecalculation.com/calculators/double-glazing-payback-calculator) — Calculate heating and cooling energy loss reduction, fuel cost savings, and payback period for double pane or Low-E window retrofits. - [Variable Speed Pool Pump ROI & Utility Savings Calculator](https://dothecalculation.com/calculators/energy-efficient-pool-pump-calculator) — Apply pump affinity laws to calculate energy savings, electric utility bill offsets, and payback period for variable speed pool pumps. - [Insulation R-Value Calculator](https://dothecalculation.com/calculators/insulation-r-value-calculator) — Calculate annual heat loss and fuel cost savings from an insulation R-value upgrade, using the standard degree-day formula. --- _Every hour, dollar and kilogram figure on this page was produced by running this calculator with the stated inputs rather than estimated, including the example where gas comes out cheaper. Mowing time treats a lawn as an area covered at a steady pace, so obstacles, slopes and awkward shapes will make real times longer on both sides. Fuel consumption and electrical draw are flat hourly rates, whereas both vary substantially with grass height and moisture. Battery degradation is modelled only as a replacement at a fixed interval, and the comparison excludes resale value, manufacturing emissions and end-of-life battery disposal._ --- _Source: [Do The Calculation](https://dothecalculation.com/calculators/electric-lawn-mower-vs-gas-calculator). Quote freely with attribution and a link to this page._