J.D. Hodges

I recently ordered a Ryobi riding lawn mower. Living off the grid and relying exclusively on solar panels for power, I was especially intrigued by a mower that could be off the grid as well. Any reduction in trips to the gas station is a good thing in my book 😉

Mower in field

For those that are inquisitive like me, here are some of the battery specs:

• 48V battery system [(4) x 12V batteries in series = 48V]
• AGM batteries
• ~2 hours or ~2 acres for the 75Ah configuration
• ~2.5 hours or ~2.5 acres for the 100Ah configuration

The less deep discharge you do to an AGM battery, the longer it will last.  Therefore, I chose the 100Ah configuration because it will allow me to mow longer without discharging as deeply at the 75Ah configuration. I plan to mow for around an hour each mowing session and that should be a fairly gentle discharge for the batteries. Likewise, I will make sure to charge the mower after each mowing session.

If anyone is questioning whether an off the grid household can utilize one of these mowers, the answer is an unequivocal YES :-). Specifically, with 7.2kWh* [7200W] coming in from our solar array, it will be possible to charge the batteries (48V x 100Ah = 4.80kWh capacity [4800W) using only 40 minutes** worth of full sun. The actual charge time will be longer due to the amp rating of the charger itself, but in the end, we will only require about 40 minutes of sunlight to produce enough power to complete a full charge of the mower.
*Note, for the time being, I will be using a normal AC outlet powered by our solar system, batteries and inverter. It should also be possible to do direct DC charging from a panel and MPPT or PWM charge controller that has been set for AGM batteries and wired appropriately.

**(4800/7200 = 0.667) x 60 min = 40min

While this is my first experience with owning an electric riding lawn mower, we have used a Polaris Ranger EV for years at our farm and it has a similar 48V battery configuration. We have had zero problems using this EV off the grid 🙂

Ryobi Electric Riding Lawn Mower Reviews

Before purchasing, I read a ton of reviews. Here is a list of the best Ryobi electric riding lawn mower reviews:

Ryobi R48110 Electric Riding Lawn Mower Review – Consumer Reportshttps://www.consumerreports.org/lawn-tractors/ryobi-r48110-electric-riding-lawn-mower-is-worth-a-look/There’s a curiosity in the mower aisle of your local Home Depot that looks like a mash-up of a dune buggy and an all-terrain vehicle. The mower stands out from the rows of gas riding mowers not only…

Is Owning a Ryobi RM480E Electric Riding Mower Cost Effective? – TodaysMower.comhttps://todaysmower.com/is-owning-a-ryobi-rm480e-electric-riding-mower-cost-effective/Let’s see if we can justify the cost of the Ryobi RM480E battery operated riding mower. Many of us now want to dump the gas-powered riding mower for something quieter, easier to maintain and more environmentally friendly. But even so we’d like to feel good about that purchase. So let’s detail the purchase a new gas riding lawn mower, the Ryobi RM480E electric riding mower and then figure the cost of using each one for 5 years.

Complete Review of the Ryobi RM480e and RM480ex Including Pictures! – TodaysMower.comhttps://todaysmower.com/complete-review-of-the-ryobi-rm480e-and-rm480ex-including-pictures/This is going to be a very complete review of the Ryobi RM480e and RM480ex electric, cordless, brushless, riding lawn mower. This mower has been getting a lot of press this year and all the Youtubers are stating how fun it is to drive. The new owners are all stating that it’s the perfect mower for them. In fact on on HomeDepot.com it’s getting an unheard of 4.9 star rating. Even Consumer Reports likes the RM480e. But is it the perfect mower for you? Let’s find out if it is capable

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