Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkxingu
A lot of the Ego electric snowblower reviews capture what you've said here, which is that you need to finagle the job to get the batteries to make it through. Specifically, doing half the job at a time or twice as often or taking half swaths or using low and high power selectively to conserve as best as possible. I'll be interested to see how your machine performs, but I'm weirded out by the idea of buying something that you immediately have to "figure out" rather than just going out and doing the job...and that's when the batteries are at their absolute maximum performance.
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Take your pick (this applies to just about anything that takes physical effort): Exert (a) more effort over less time, or (b) less effort over more time. I prefer (b) so I really don't mind going out twice during a storm. The snowblower also prefers (b): it's more effective with lower amounts of snow.
There's nothing to figure out. Clear snow for 30 to 45 minutes, put batteries on charger for 30 to 45 minutes, go back out later if needed, and congratulate yourself for not adding more carbon to the atmosphere. While you're taking your gas snowblower to the shop to get the carburetor cleaned, changing the spark plug, and going to get gas, I'll be just dropping the battery in the hatch and getting going.
However, this is not all about user convenience. To those who love their gas snowblower/lawnmower/car, etc. I say,
we all have a duty to transition to electricity as soon as possible for the sake of the planet. I understand that electric tools and cars do not yet have fully developed technology and are expensive, but I feel that the technology and price are good enough that it's time to start making the switch. We can do this over time to lessen the financial impact. Buying electric tools and cars contributes to supporting research and development to improve performance and reliability and bring the price down. You know this is going to happen eventually; it's just a question of when we each decide to get on board.