Investing in a robotic mower can easily set you back a grand for a relatively good model.
However, if you have an expansive yard and loathe using a push mower or ride-on, that’s what a robotic mower is built for, and it will make perfect sense to have a hard-working little worker follow its programming to keep your grass trimmed during the growing season.
Besides the initial outlay to buy one of these high specification, autonomous mowers – you need to factor in the ongoing seasonal running costs of keeping your robot mower running at its optimum throughout the years.
In This Article – We will examine the ongoing costs of operating a typical robotic mower and how that compares to ride-on, and traditional push mowers.
What Are the Running Costs of a Robotic Mower?
Given that robotic lawn mowers employ complex engineering and technology, running costs are very straightforward and reasonable.
This straightforwardness means you’ll have great value from your modest investment in a robotic lawn mower to mow your lawn as the low costs we’re talking about means it won’t cost an arm and leg to run and maintain it.
Key costs that are incurred while operating your robotic lawn mower will include:
- Electricity to run the mower
Replacement and upkeep of parts including batteries, cutting discs & blades and broken boundary wire - Servicing costs related to the mower.
Electricity Costs for Your Robotic Lawnmower
Overall, the cost of electricity to run a robotic mower is low.
Let’s be honest though a mower is not going to run and need to be charged 12 months of the year. In reality, you will need a trim for the four to six months of maximum growth.
The amount of electricity consumption will be dependent on robot specifications such as the amount of time it mows, the amount of time it takes to charge the mower, the voltage, and the specs of the motor.
For every hour that a mower mowed the grass, it would have spent about one hour charging the mower. For example, a mower runs for 10 hours a day but may take 5 hours to recharge.
5 hours to charge x (0.08 kWh) = 12 kWh for mowing grass (over a month). Power consumed for mowing (12-15 kWh) is EXTREMELY low and hard to fathom the cost.
The average cost for domestic electricity in 2020 was 13.2 cents per kWh. This means that the actual price to charge your robotic mower for the month would cost about $2 (13.2 cents x 15 kWh).
The bottom-line is that if your robotic mower had to run the full year, you would spend probably over about $24!
Amount of electricity costs per year to charge mower = $24 a year.
A Replacement Battery Is Usually Required for a Robot Mower Every Two to Four Years
You could argue that the battery is the most important component of your robot mower, because without a battery, your bot is not going anywhere.
Most robot mowers only use lithium-ion batteries that are able to be recharged with a high capacity of power.
Every time the battery has a full cycle of charging, that is power put into the battery that diminishes over time when the chemical reaction is irreversible when used.
When you have charged the mower for the 500th time, the end of the lifespan of the battery is near.
To replace the battery in a robotic mower will cost between $50-$100. Fair price, especially for up to four years of power!
There can be a wide variance in quality, depending on how much you spent on the robot mower, but if it greatly depends on the OEM battery.
Replacement Battery Cost Total = $25 a year
Cutting Blades Require More Frequent Replacement
This is easy to see why based on the fact they are working hard cutting and mulching your grass almost all of the time.
The wear of your mower blades will be accelerated by outside factors which is why it is so important to keep an eye on the edges. For example, gravel, pebbles, dog poop, fallen fruits etc will all accelerate the wear of mower blades.
In the late spring and summer when you are using your mower more than not, you may only get a couple of months use before you will need to replace the mower blades.
Fortunately, the blades are relatively inexpensive at about $5 – $10 per set of three (individual) blades for robot mowers.
In the most you should only really need to change the blades three times during the mowing season.
Total mowing blades replacement cost = $15 – $30 per year.
Boundary Wire Is Another Expense That Crops up from Time to Time
In an ideal scenario, there would be no need to factor in the cost of boundary wire into the running costs of a robotic mower since it is supposed to be a one-time install.
The unfortunate reality is that your robotic mower’s boundary wire is the most frequent reason for mower failure.
Why is that?
Because no matter how well you accurately and sufficiently install it, the boundary wire will eventually get snapped.
As a result of the day to day use of your gardens, over the course of the season the wire will take a pounding from:
- Digging
- Other garden implements
- Wildlife, like rabbits or deer, giving it the odd nibble
When the boundary wire does snap in the first instance, you either have to replace the complete wire or connect the two snaps back together with a connector.
A new boundary wire depending on the length, could be up to $100, plus a pack of holes or connectors is approximately $10.
Servicing Your Robot Lawnmower Is Well Worth the Annual Cost
Regular maintenance is a valuable investment in the longevity of your robotic lawn mower. Ongoing upkeep will keep your mower in excellent condition and help it cut grass effectively.
Most manufacturers recommend doing this once a year so you have the mower cleaned properly, faulty parts identified and replaced, and possibly the software checked and updated.
Typically, servicing will be in excess of $100, plus additional charges for any goods or servicing required.
Servicing Cost Total $100 +
Running a Robotic Lawn Mower Is Going to Be Cheaper than Running a Ride-on Mower.
Even though a robotic mower is costly, it is still cheaper than a ride-on mower
Which have annual (including blades, fuel, electricity and servicing) running costs of up to $800 a year.
For push mowers, the fuel cost are about $1.50 an acre for fuel, but when you factor in the labor to operate a push mower, a robotic mower is worth every penny (including scythes).
Rounding Up
When you observe how little a robotic mower costs to run, you may be shocked!
They provide exceptional value to the consumer particularly when evaluating their low noise, no emissions and simplicity of maintenance.
Over time the user of robotic mowers will save both time and money most likely more than the purchase price of the mower.
Also, keep in mind that costs will increase by additional robotic mowers being run at the same time.