As the shift towards battery powered professional landscape equipment accelerates, FocusOn is in constant contact with all manufacturers to keep you informed on the latest new battery powered product introductions.
If you attended last October’s Equip Expo in Louisville, you saw for yourself that every brand that you know (and many, many that you didn’t know), introduced new battery powered products designed for professional use. There were more than 500 commercial grade battery powered products to see and test drive, ranging in size from a hand-held pruner to UTVs and even skidsteer loaders and mini-excavators.
Following Equip Expo, in conjunction with show management, we conducted a survey of show attendees and the results of the survey makes it very clear on how the battery powered equipment is impacting our industry.
Some Key Take-aways from the Survey about Battery power
– 11% of survey respondents now use battery powered equipment as their primary tools
– 45% also use battery powered products, but as their secondary tools.
– Only 30% have no battery powered equipment at this time.
The key concerns survey respondents have about battery powered products are:
#1 Run Time
#2 Performance
#3 Cost
#4 Time to Charge
As we evaluate the new battery powered products introduced, we focus on those 4 concerns.
Last year, Kress Commercial introduced their 60 V 21″ self-propelled lawn mower and we obtained one to put it through the paces in commercial applications.
KRESS touted the mower as “ truly cordless solution for commercial use”, and our testing / evaluation confirms it.
Let’s look at those key criteria results as reported as the most important when considering battery powered products in our Equip Expo survey:
– Run time. The 60 V 21″ self-propelled lawn mower that we tested was equipped with the 11Ah Cyber Pack battery which enabled the mowing of almost .5 acre on a single charge. AND, the beauty of the KRESS Cyber Pack batteries is that the…
– Time to charge is only 8 minutes! Integrated Bluetooth capability linked to the Kress Commercial app provides access to lots of data about the battery.
– Performance The quality of cut is equal to that of the commercial gas-powered mowers on the market. The mower gets an “A” when in mulching mode and an A+ in bagging mode. When the bagger is installed, the airflow drives all clippings into its large 2.5 bushel collection system.
The Kress Commercial 60 V 21″ self-propelled lawn mower received high marks by the crew using it in commercial applications.
The following are the details of the Kress Commercial 60 V 21″ self-propelled lawn mower as provided by KRESS:
The Kress walk-behind mower eliminates any need for gas. With a revolutionary battery and charging system, there are no concerns about being short on power for those long landscaping days.
The Kress-built brushless motor provides exceptional power for mulching and bagging operations.
The LiftStream™ deck design promotes extraordinary airflow to provide an unprecedented cut quality. With a reinforced steel deck, IPX4 waterproofing, front bumper protection, trim side wear plate, and rubber tires, the Kress mower will handle the difficulty encountered in everyday landscaping. Additional features include:
– The mowing deck is engineered to deliver high vacuum levels providing increased quality of cut for mulching, and bagging.
– Design provides increased airflow levels allowing complete bag filling of the 2.5-bushel collection system.
– Powerful 7 Lb-ft of torque provides the force needed for professional cut quality under severe working conditions.
– Variable self-propelled speed, up to 4 mph, allows professional landscapers to match cutting speed to cutting conditions for optimal efficiency.
– Kress-built commercial-grade brushless motors provide more power, longer runtime, and extended lifespan over brush-type motors.
– LiftStream™ deck design delivers steady & powerful spiral airflow to ensure efficient mulching & optimal bagging performance.
– The 2.5 bushel collection bag means less time emptying and more time cutting.
– The Kress 8-minute CyberSystem has fully unlocked the product potential to 10x the battery life*, 2x power output*, 8-minute charge time* and zero downtime. The wait is over, start your transition to zero-emission today * Up to 10x battery charge/discharge cycles compared to 18650/21700 lithium-ion cells
*Up to 2x maximum momentary power delivery output compared to 18650 lithium-ion cells
*When charging 4 Ah or 11 Ah Kress commercial batteries with the KAC875 charger.
– Built-in LED control panel displays battery power level and available adjustable settings.
– The front bumper guard protects the power head from impact during use and trailering.
– The trim side deck wear plate protects the steel deck when trimming against abrasive structures such as brick and stone.
– The 2-point height adjustment allows for easy cutting height adjustment and modifying deck pitch for certain applications.
– The heavy-duty differential drive transmission provides exceptional durability while the auto-clutch allows for easy transition from self-propelled operation to push operation.
Click HERE for more details on the Kress Commercial 60 V 21″ self-propelled lawn mower.
KRESS now offers a complete line of commercial grade battery powered products including Lawn mowers, Grass trimmers, Hedge trimmers, Chainsaws, Leaf blowers and Snow blowers with more product launches to come this year.