five years ago ryobi released their first battery-powered riding mower it featured
a lead acid battery and a 38-inch stamped steel deck so what's the big news for today well ryobi
has brought three new lithium-ion battery-powered zero-turn lawn mowers powered by a brand new 80
volt lithium ion suitcase style battery let's start with the models and deck sizes ryobi now
has 30 42 and 54 inch decks and features a lot of innovation right off the bat you can't help but
notice these mowers don't use either a steering wheel or lap bars instead ryobi spent over a year
developing a single joystick that lets you maneuver the mower quickly and easily
people typically hate change however we gave it a try in fact we rode this mower for quite a while
and i have to say the joystick works really really well if you've ever picked up a game
controller when you're gonna feel right at home if you haven't really dialed in the sensitivity
and controls so that we were able to run through slaloms and execute 360 degree turns in place
without much of a learning curve you pull up on a red knob to activate the blades just as you would
with a gas zero turn it's also keyed so not just anyone can jump on and start it up deck height is
adjustable using a side pull lever from around 1.5 to 4.5 inches you also get led headlights
that activate with the push of a button underneath the lcd panel finally a usb port lets you recharge
your smartphone or other electronics as needed if you listen closely you remember we said that this
mower operated off an 80 volt battery actually it operates off more than one each rectangular
80 volt pack features a hundred individual battery cells a small lcd screen gives you the percentage
of charge remaining the 42 inch and 54 inch model support up to 380 volt batteries and four 40 volt
auxiliary batteries the 30 inch mower supports 280 volt batteries and two 40 volt auxiliaries
all of these charge internally using an external fast charger that runs off 120 volts and looks
like something you might use to charge an electric car it plugs into the rear of the mower so how
does ryobi mix 40 volt and 80 volt batteries together that's a great question what they do
is prioritize the 80 volt packs for running the mower until those packs are depleted after that
the mower can switch to its 40 volt packs to draw additional run time if needed albeit with
some reduction in power unless you think it needs to operate these 40 volt batteries in pairs it
doesn't ryobi uses electronics to step up their 40 volt packs and effectively deliver 80 volts needed
that means you can operate each of these mowers on just a single 40 volt battery which we don't
really recommend by the way now let's talk about charging time the new 30 42 and 54 inch zero turns
take a lot less time to charge and you can mount that charger on your garage or shed wall
it'll recharge these zero turn batteries in two three and four hours respectively
that's super quick and yes it charges both the 80 volt batteries and the 40 volt batteries
at the same time even if you don't plan to use those 40 volt batteries to extend your runtime
it might just make sense to make use of the fast charger on the mower to take care of your other
handheld 40 volt power tools if that weren't enough ryobi also updated the control system on
these mowers we mentioned the lcd screen earlier it lets you independently configure low medium and
high drive and blade speeds the screen shows you the remaining run time and battery life we rode
this mower for quite some time and so did several of our colleagues from the media the air ride seat
suspension on the 42 and 54 inch models makes for a very comfortable ride a dial on the front lets
you adjust for your weight which worked really well since i weighed significantly less than
one of the gentlemen using the mower before i did when we look at all three models you can see some
pretty clear reasons for getting each for example the ryobi z30 li 30 inch mower fits through most
gates and presents a great solution for delivering a rider that fits where most zero turns can't
ryobi even designed the bagging system to fit completely within the width of the body
so it doesn't expand the footprint at four thousand dollars this mower should provide a solid
solution for anyone trying to get into a battery powered zero turn mower that can tackle properties
up to an acre in size stepping up to the 42-inch ryobi z42li you get a great mid-tier product with
all the same great controls and features of the 54-inch model but with a stamped steel deck and
reduced deck size the 5 000 retail price gives you double the mowing range up to two acres you also
get an additional 80 volt battery and two more 40 volt battery ports for extending your runtime
finally the six thousand dollar flagship z54 li gives you a 54 inch fabricated deck that combined
with the trio of 80 volt batteries nets you up to four acres of grass cutting we have to admit
we're kind of excited about these mowers not because we haven't seen anything like this before
but because manufacturers like ryobi are starting to drive the industry forward in a new direction
a joystick steering wheel air ride seat suspension between innovative new features
and familiar features we've come to expect from gas products we look forward to doing even more
testing on these mowers when we get them in-house later this year if you have any questions be sure
to leave those in the comments below we'd love to hear from you also follow the link in the
description if you want to hit our website and learn even more as always thanks for watching
you