Just bought the new Cub Cadet ZERO battery-powered mower, so far so good!

Only certain dealers are carrying it, but I was able to find one about 90 miles away. I've had it now for a couple of weeks and have mowed the lawn several times. So far, it's just as advertised! Quiet, more than enough juice to mow my yard, zero turn feature is superb. I really think this is going to be a winner for Cub Cadet. They're selling for $4000, which is a 42" zero turn mower with the patented steering wheel zero-turn mechanism. It has four 12V AGM (lead-acid) cells, and four motors: one for each wheel, one for each blade. There are no belts, there is no transmission, and of course no oil, gas, spark plug, starter, etc. It includes a smart charger that charges up the battery, then goes to sleep for 28 days. If undisturbed, it will then begin another charge cycle. Cub Cadet recommends you just leave it plugged in to the mower whenever the mower is not in use. Something like 16 hours would recharge from dead, but I seriously doubt I have discharged mine much. It just seems too energetic, even at the end of my mowing. There's some sort of battery charge meter on the dashboard, but it always looks the same, so I think my lawn is no challenge for it (about 45 minutes mowing).

Top speed is about 6 mph, but I cut at about 4 mph. The mower can sense heavy grass and will send more energy to the blades to try and keep them spinning at a constant speed. There is also a "turbo" mode which seems to about double the blade speed, although in normal grass I can't tell any difference in how it cuts.

Battery life is something like 4-8 years, with a possible cost of $800 to replace them. So time will tell. Four years would be a bit painful, six would an OK outcome, eight will be a totally successful design.

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Just bought the new Cub Cadet ZERO battery-powered mower, so far so good!