By Jim Cavan

Ten years ago, when electric lawn mowers were first put to market en masse, very few retailers offered the cleaner, greener option.

Now, a decade later, electric lawn mowers have become more reliable, more versitile, and – perhaps most importantly – more affordable. But while the popularity may have grown and the technology improved, one thing hasn’t: Then as now, Exeter’s Perkins Lawnmower is proud to offer the latest in green mowing options.

Perkins, a third-generation, Exeter-based family purveyor of lawn equipment and maintenance services, is a business that has literally grown with the technology. They started back in the early 50s selling and servicing reel push mowers – the old-school workhorses you’d expect to see on the Flintstones and which, sadly, have been relegated to collecting dust in barns and basements.

Even their logo harkens to this sense of history and change, depicting the profile of a five-blade reel mower along with the company name.
As gas-powered options exploded onto the scene in the 60s, Perkins expanded their business along with the changing technology, which began to include a versatile range of both push and riding mowers.

Then came the advent of the electric mower in the late 90s. And while Perkins was more than happy to offer the gas-free options, co-owner Keith Perkins claims the fervor for cleaner, greener mowers took another decade to truly accelerate.

“When Toro first came out with their battery option 10 years ago, they were really early to the market, and the demand just wasn’t there,” explains Perkins. “A lot of companies had options out there that they took off the shelves, but the last three or four years the demand has been getting very high, and these options are becoming more and more popular.”

Currently Perkins offers a few different kinds of electric options. There’s the Country Home Products Neuton push mower, which is battery operated and electric. Perkins has been offering this model since it came out nearly a decade ago, and it has quickly grown to become one of their most popular lines.

Perkins also offers the Hustler Zeon, the world’s first electric riding lawn mower which is also zero-turn – meaning you can literally stop and change directions on a dime. Though it can require up to 10 hours of charging, once fully juiced the Zeon can mow for up to 90 minutes, or roughly an acre and a half.

For as much as the Zeon’s green brawn has been touted and admired, it also has some pretty impressive brains as well: the mower features a computer control unit which saves enough electricity to get you from where you are to your charging station, where it will then perform a comprehensive diagnostic on the battery and electrical systems.

According to Perkins, Hustler – another family-owned company headquartered in Kansas – has always been at the forefront of mowing technology (they first introduced the zero-turn mower way back in 1964). “We like doing business with them because they’re family owned and they’re always first to market,” says Perkins. “So many manufacturers today are publically traded, huge companies, so it’s nice to work with a company that’s more focused on the long-view and strives to innovate.”

It’s precisely this long-view that sets Perkins apart from others in their trade. It also gives them the perspective to help customers consider options which are just as affordable as standard mowers, but do much less harm to the environment.

“More and more customers are coming in specifically to look at battery-powered options,” says Perkins. “But we’re seeing more people coming in just looking for gas powered mowers, and when they learn about the electric option – that it’s green, has a lower cost of ownership and maintenance, and that it’s cost competitive – they change their minds and walk out with electric mowers.”

While electric mowers still have a ways to go before they replace completely their gas-powered counterparts, one thing’s for certain: this increasingly popular – end increasingly clean and green – technology has a dependable advocate in Perkins Lawn Mower.