Electric mowing: why the purchase price is only part of the calculation

Will an electric machine make it through the working day?

When someone shows interest in an electric machine, or enquires about one, two questions generally come up: what does it cost, and how many hours can you work with it? We can answer the second one quickly. We currently have hundreds of 8015F machines in the field, fitted with TrecLink. The data from these machines shows that average consumption when working with an MD270 mower deck is 7.5 kW per hour. With a 75 kWh battery, getting through an eight-hour working day is therefore not a problem. 

Purchase, energy and maintenance belong together

A contractor or other business depreciates a machine over its service life. A municipality that capitalises the machine as an investment works with capital costs: depreciation and interest. What a machine costs per year is depreciation plus energy plus maintenance. 

If your organisation has a separate investment budget and a separate operating budget, the purchase sits in one, and energy and maintenance in the other. If you assess the two separately, you won't see what the machine costs in total. 

What else belongs in the calculation for electric mowing

A few of these factors explained in more detail: 

Energy: Take the consumption of your diesel machine in litres per hour and multiply it by the current diesel price. Do the same with the kWh per hour of the electric machine and your own electricity tariff. Multiply both results by your running hours per year. 

Maintenance: Compare the expected maintenance and repair costs over the full service life. An electric drivetrain needs different maintenance from a diesel machine: oil changes and various filters, among other things, are no longer needed. On the 8015F the steering is also electrically assisted (EPAS), which means there is no hydraulic maintenance on the steering either. 

Downtime: Add up the hours per year that the machine is not working, whether because of breakdowns, maintenance or refuelling, and multiply them by what a working hour costs you. Our dealers can run a remote diagnosis via TrecLink. Charging can be done overnight, outside your working hours. 

Financial incentives: Depending on the country or region, tax incentives, grants or subsidy schemes may be available for investments in zero-emission machinery or sustainable technology. These can have a significant impact on the overall investment case.  

Ask your local dealer about the possibilities available in your region. 

What else matters outside the calculation

Your employees: Local health and safety regulations may also influence the choice of machinery. For example, in the Netherlands, diesel engine emissions are classified as carcinogenic and employers must prevent or minimise employee exposure. Regulations differ by country, so it is worth checking which requirements apply in your market. 

Your client: Clients increasingly set requirements for the use of emission-free equipment. In tenders this can be a hard requirement, but working emission-free can also give you an advantage at the award stage. Choosing electric can therefore affect not only your costs, but also your chances of winning future contracts. 

An entrepreneur who came round

A family business that constructs, maintains and makes outdoor spaces more sustainable did not find the switch to electric an obvious choice. The co-owner says: "We convinced ourselves with facts." 

The company worked out the total cost of ownership, including charging with its own solar panels and public charging points, and wanted a clear break-even point before making its choice. Three years on, the hour meter reads more than 3,100 running hours. Read the full story. 

"Diesel is just cheaper": is that true?

On purchase price, yes. But look at the costs over the whole service life as well. Set out depreciation, energy, maintenance and downtime, and include any financial incentives. Divide the total by the number of running hours and you know what a running hour really costs, for both diesel and electric. 

We are happy to help you make that comparison for your situation. 

Try it on your own site

We and our dealers offer on-site demonstrations, so you can test the machine in your own working environment. Request a demo for the 4810T, the 8015F or the 7510F. Explore our applications, from mowing and weed brushing to snow clearing, and see in our references how other organisations use their AllTrec. 

We promise nothing you cannot calculate for yourself. Run the electric mowing calculation with your own figures and test the machine for a day.