1 seller of handheld outdoor power devices, is also branching out. The company sold out of its limited quantity of electric snow blowers amid heavy snowfall and tight industry capacity. Ariens put on sale an electric snow blower priced 60 percent higher than a conventional model. If Wisconsin-based Ariens Co’s experience during last year’s tough winter is any indication, there may be hope for Honda. Honda’s expectations for sales of the Japan-built hybrid are extremely modest, but it wants to test the market before committing to other alternative-energy models. This model promises to be the Cadillac of its class, capable of clearing 83 tons of snow in an hour and sweep a city sidewalk in one pass.īut, at $8,000, this machine is twice as expensive as the company’s previous top-of-the-line model, and hybrid technology is driving up the cost. Honda Motor Co sells thousands of hybrid snow blowers in Japan annually and is bringing a hybrid model to the United States. TWICE THE PRICEīut even the most established global players are finding it hard to turn the tide. The “market has missed the mark on developing alternative energy products that meet performance expectations,” he said.īy 2013, Jore plans to have a broader range of products, including a lawn mower and leaf blower that don’t use gas. It will begin appearing at independent U.S. His first product, a $249 weed whacker weighing 11 pounds, is powered by an unconventional motor and lithium-ion battery that slips in and out of the machine so it can be charged on a separate dock.
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This lessens the likelihood that customers will demand huge advances in fuel economy or solutions that lessen their operating expenses. “People who use our products typically use no more than five gallons of gasoline per year,” Keiser said. As gas prices rise, so does the strain on pocketbooks.īut outdoor equipment users don’t face these pressures. The auto and other industries are under constant pressure to raise fuel economy or tap new technologies because their customers often burn through dozens or more gallons of gasoline each month. Another 35 percent reduction will come in 2012. “These aren’t your father’s lawn machines,” Kris Keiser, president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, said.Īt Briggs & Stratton, for example, Teske said emissions have been cut by 75 percent since the mid-1990s thanks to manufacturing upgrades and design improvements. In the mid-1990s, that began to change as the Environmental Protection Agency began pressuring engine makers with tougher standards. In fact, when auto executives were confronted by regulators for their contributions to pollution, they pointed to the lawn industry as a more offensive culprit. Briggs & Stratton sells electric mowers, but only in Australia.įor decades, garden and snow machines were a poster child for harmful emissions.
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“Gas engines, by and large, are the most efficient way to go,” Briggs & Stratton Corp Chief Executive Todd Teske told Reuters in an interview shortly after a press conference to unveil the company’s latest engine. However, the answers offered will likely be more of the same. “Some customers do like the experience of being unencumbered by exhaust and gasoline.” “We do anticipate the trend moving in the direction of alternative energy,” said Jeff Salamon, director of marketing at MTD Products Inc.
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This week, at the annual Green Industry and Equipment Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, manufacturers will once again unveil new equipment with some promise of a cleaner, greener future. While lawn mowers get faster, snow blowers cover more ground and handheld products get lighter, their propulsion has barely changed beyond getting more mileage out of gasoline. landscapers, loggers, homeowners and a litany of other buyers. REUTERS/Gary Hershornįrom log splitters to snow blowers, the $15 billion outdoor power equipment industry sells tens of millions of oil-powered machines a year to U.S. Groundskeepers cut the grass on the first fairway following the final practice round for the 2008 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, April 9, 2008.