Electric riding lawn mowers are officially mainstream now that the gas riding mower powerhouse John Deere has jumped on the battery bandwagon.
Deere’s new battery-powered zero-turn mower is among a growing crop of contenders to offer longer run times for electric riding mowers. With better (and sometimes more) batteries powering bigger machines, you can now find a decent selection of battery riding lawn mowers (also known as cordless electric riding lawn mowers) with the power to cut more than an acre of grass on a single charge.
The new John Deere, for instance, has an average run time approaching 2 hours. A couple of others in our battery riding mower ratings even run a bit longer, on average. That means they may be able to cut nearly two acres of grass without having to recharge. (We base the run times in our ratings using the number of batteries supplied with the mower, which can range from one to seven.)
In this article
- Why Buy an Electric Riding Mower?
- What's Available in Battery Riding Mowers
- Best Battery Riding Lawn Mowers
Why Buy an Electric Riding Lawn Mower?
Battery riding lawn mowers are generally more expensive than their gas counterparts—but not always. In Consumer Reports’ ratings, a top-rated battery riding mower, a zero-turn model from Ego, costs $5,500. But of the two John Deeres tied for first place in our gas zero-turn mower ratings, one costs less—$5,100—and one costs more, $6,000.
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What are the benefits of a battery riding mower? You’ll typically get a quieter ride than with a gas model. You’ll also save on gasoline and help the environment in the process. In addition, “battery riding mowers don’t take as much effort to maintain,” says David Trezza, who leads lawn mower testing for Consumer Reports.
As with a gas-powered model, you’ll have to keep the blades sharp and your eye on the tire pressure. But you won’t need to change the spark plugs or motor oil, or add new gasoline and stabilizer.
“You may need to recharge the battery periodically during the winter,” Trezza notes. “It can get damaged if it stays discharged or is exposed for too long to extreme cold—or heat, for that matter.” Check the manual or maker’s website for specific care instructions.
What's Available in Battery Riding Lawn Mowers
As with gas riding mowers, battery riding mowers come in three types:
• Traditional lawn tractors: These have car-style steering wheels and cutting decks from 42 to 54 inches.
• Zero-turn mowers: Their cutting decks also range from 42 to 54 inches. Most use levers for forward and rearward steering to enable nimble handling and tight turns.More than half of the electric riding mowers in our tests are of this variety.
• Rear-engine riders. These lower-cost compact units typically have 30-inch-wide cutting decks.
Featurewise, battery riding mowers are generally on a par with gas riding mowers. All of the battery models in our ratings can cut in reverse. They all include gauges you can view from your seat to see how much battery juice remains. Other available features include cruise control, washout ports, and suspension seats for greater comfort.
All of the models in our ratings have warranties of at least three years, though you can find warranties as long as five years. Battery-powered riding mowers haven’t been on the market long enough to get Consumer Reports scores for owner satisfaction or reliability.
CR members can read on for details on recommended battery riding mower models from our expert tests. Or check out Consumer Reports’ lawn mower and tractor buying guide and ratings, which feature dozens more battery and gas-powered options of various types and styles.
Best Battery Riding Lawn Mowers
Below, we’ve listed seven of the best electric (battery) riding lawn mowers we’ve tested. Most are zero-turn mowers, but two lawn tractors also make the cut. Battery riding mowers are too new a category for us to judge long-term predicted reliability or owner satisfaction.
Tobie Stanger
Tobie Stanger is a senior editor at Consumer Reports, where she has been helping readers shop wisely, save money, and avoid scams for more than 30 years. Most recently, her home- and shopping-related beats have included appliance and grocery stores, generators, homeowners and flood insurance, humidifiers, lawn mowers, and luggage—she also covers home improvement products like flooring, roofing, and siding. During off-hours, she works on her own fixer-upper and gets her hands dirty in the garden.
