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We went to a bizarre spectacle today -- a London rooftop demo of the world's first solar hybrid robot electric lawnmower. Scroll to the bottom for photos.
Made by Swedish firm Husqvarna and dubbed the Automower Solar Hybrid, it's mighty similar to an Electrolux robot mower that arrived in the UK in 2005. But with one key difference: it has a solar panel stuck on the top.
The mower's makers reckon on a sunny summer's day the panel and internal battery will keep the Automower trimming for an hour On a more typically British day like today, it should eek out 45 minutes before needing a recharge. As we saw during our demo, it then automatically trundles off to its charging dock.
Between charges, we watched the mower strut its autonomous robot stuff, cleverly mapping out the lawn within boundaries set by a wire perimeter that comes supplied. We're told the bot mower's good for a 2,100 square metre garden. That's big.
Further green credentials come from the boast that 90 per cent of the components are recycled. Though if that's the case, why not make them 90 per cent recycled in the first place?
On the plus side, if you buy one in the UK the carbon footprint is likely to be smaller than a China-made mower -- the Solar Hybrid's assembled in Aycliffe, Durham.
This intriguing mix of robot and renewables comes at a price. One Automower Solar Hybrid will set you back a cool £2,000, £500 more than the old solar-free Automowers. If money's no object, the mower's on sale now and you can find out more here. We'll stick to our scythe for now.
Round the back of the mower, which leaves lawn clippings to biodegrade naturally
In action on top of the Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre near the Thames
You can tweak the length that grass gets cut by changing settings under the panel
Recharging in its dock -- which takes around 45 minutes
The solar panel's pretty large, but the mower won't run solely on sun -- it needs the mains too
07 March 2008 11:04am
It does sound like alot, but it covers the area you would do with a tractor of the same or greater value does it not?
10 March 2008 08:52pm
That price should pay for someone to come and push a manual mower round the garden for 2 years. If it lasts that long it could just be worth it!
10 March 2008 10:45pm
Green credentials? Having a lawn at all is (ironically) hardly green, is it? This is just another example of greenies wanting to feel like Captain Planet without dramatically changing their yuppie lifestyles. If you want a lawnmower that not only oh-so-handily leaves your clippings to "biodegrade naturally" (I love how they've spun that little fact!) but even speeds up the process, I've got a greener-than-green alternative - get a goat.
11 March 2008 02:09am
If the typical lawn were tame enough that a machine like this could do it (without the battery running out, getting stuck, toppling over on hills, or bogging down or clogged with clippings), then the lawn would be so easy to mow that you could do it yourself in a very short order anyway. So what would be the point? The much better solution would be to establishing a lawn that needs no water or mowing and is robust so as to essentially crowd out less desirable species. ;-)
11 March 2008 01:10pm
i agree with this guy (sans goat portion), if the majority of suburban america used push mowers instead of john deere's or even this faux-green item we could end obesity as well as our large carbon footprint in one shot.
13 March 2008 03:30pm
The solar panel on top is just a gimmick. It likely only produces enough power to move the weight of the panel itself. I would be more impressed by a solar powered charging dock.
23 March 2008 05:15pm
reply to posted comment 3/13 3.30: im afraid you have missed the point of the concept. Solar mowers have been around since 95 but had limited functionality relying entirely on solar power. This is a hybrid! By mounting the cell on the mower this aids the battery performance when cutting. Mounting it on the charging dock will not help.
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