Best Electric Lawn Mower of 2024
Our experts tested the best electric mowers to find the perfect option to keep your lawn healthy.
Our Experts
- Macy has been working for CNET for coming on 2 years. Prior to CNET, Macy received a North Carolina College Media Association award in sports writing.
What to consider
Our Picks
What's the best electric lawn mower, overall?
The Ego Power Plus 21-inch Select Cut XP self-propelled mower is at the top of our list for the best electric lawn mower. It's got a 75-minute cutting time on one charge and all the features you want in a push mower, The machine meets or exceeds every expectation.
You've got several other strong options, which is great news if you aren't a fan of the smell of gasoline or if you want a cleaner alternative to a gas-powered lawn mower. Electric lawn mowers are available in both battery-powered and corded models, but for this post, we'll focus exclusively on the battery-powered variety.
Mowers that run on a battery are more powerful than ever before while also managing to be more convenient than a mower with a long cord, and they're better for the environment than gas. Now's the perfect time to look for a new electric lawn mower, since the evolution of the technology has given us a wide range of capabilities and prices.
Best electric lawn mowers of 2024
Anyone who doubts that an electric mower can rival the power of gas models hasn't used an Ego. At 75.35 pounds, this machine is one of the biggest and heaviest in my test group. That said, the Ego Power Plus had the most oomph. Whether I was cutting grass or barreling through low bushes, this mower performed like a tank. Where other lesser mowers stalled, it was largely unstoppable.
Despite its heft, the Ego Power Plus was a cinch to drive around the yard. I found it fast and stable, too. I also appreciated that I could engage its variable-speed engine without having to spin the mower's blade. Other noteworthy features include a wide, 21-inch cutting platform and a 56-volt battery that works with Ego's entire line of yard power tools.
In our tested metrics that include things like engine power, blade speed, blade force and blade torque, Ego was consistently moving between first or second place, most often sharing the slots with Dewalt or Greenworks. This level of performance points to some of Ego's marketing, which says this mower "exceeds the power of gas[-powered mowers]." Our horsepower conversions still place this unit as less powerful than most gasoline-powered push mowers.
Best electric lawn mower for consistent lawn maintenance
Greenworks 25-inch 60-volt cordless self-propelled lawn mower
There is a lot to like about this mower.
For starters, this push mower sports a 25-inch deck that shields two 12.5-inch blades underneath. For plain ol' push mowers, that is one of the widest cut decks you're going to find, which means you'll spend less time mowing since each pass is wider than most other push mowers.
If you look at our test data at a "per blade" glance, this unit sits near the bottom of the pack in terms of power and speed. We should remember that we have two blades functioning at this level. While that doesn't exactly translate into double the power and speed numbers, we do still see some advantages.
This mower covers even lawns with reasonable lawn growth pretty well. When you move into overgrown lawns or larger growth and weed types, these 12.5-inch blades tend to bind more often than the higher-powered units.
If you regularly maintain your yard, and especially if you're looking to cut down on that mowing time, this is likely your best option.
Best electric lawn mower on a budget
Greenworks 19-inch 40-volt push lawn mower
The smaller sibling I tested in the Greenworks lineup did quite well, comparatively speaking. Although it was the second smallest unit overall, it routinely made appearances in the top slots of some of our tests -- it even measured as the unit with the fastest blade speed at 178.5 miles per hour.
This unit does have the second lowest price tag of all the units we tested, but there are some caveats if you decide to go in this direction. First: Although it is an electric-powered mower, it is not self-propelled, which puts it at odds with most of the units on our list. You'll need to rely on your strength to move this thing around the yard. Also, it is listed as being appropriate for yards that are 0.25-acre or less.
This is a great unit if you have a smaller yard and don't mind the physical labor portion.
Other options: If you have a near-zero lot, the cheapest unit is the Litheli, which is also the smallest and quietest. If you have virtually no yard to maintain but you're super budget-conscious, that might be your better option. Conversely, if you need something to handle a bit more yard, you're probably looking at one of the larger units. The Dewalt would be the next-best budget buy for larger yards.
Other electric lawn mowers we tested
Craftsman CMCWSP220P2 20-inch 20-volt self-propelled: The Craftsman did fine in our tests, coming in as the second quietest mower. It landed just below average on most of our tests, but that is also the price point for this mower. I feel like its performance scales appropriately with its price tag.
Litheli U20LM00-0A120 13-inch 20-volt: If you need a small mower, this is indeed a small mower. It's the cheapest of the lot, but also the least powerful.
Dewalt DCMWP233U2 21.5-inch 20-volt: This version of Dewalt's self-propelled mower did much better than the last one we tested. It measured second in horsepower compared to the Ego and did almost as well on the practical tests.
Ryobi RY401140 21-inch 40-volt self-propelled: A nice mower overall and another one that tested well, finishing consistently near the top. It has lots of features to like, as well as the most versatile self-propelled system.
Factors to consider when choosing an electric lawn mower
- Battery type/size: Most manufacturers build their mowers on a platform that is also used by other tools. For heavy tool users, it's worth looking into matching platforms.
- Capacity: In addition to battery type, the battery size will determine how much grass you can mow. Small capacity means you may be stuck waiting up to 3 hours for a recharge.
- Accessories: There are tons of possible add-ons for mowers. Different blade types and grass chutes are two of the main ones. Make sure your use case is addressed.
- Features: Again, lots of possibilities here. Do you need lights for twilight mowing? How about a self-propelled feature? Rich features often lead to price increases.
For more, read our electric lawn mower buying guide.
How we test electric lawn mowers
We test electric lawnmowers by running each through a battery of tests (no pun intended, since we do run actual battery tests) and yes, we also mow stuff. There are certain product categories where we collect, at the time, tons of data, but despite our best efforts, data alone cannot give us the entire picture about which product performs the best. Taking these to the yard is the best way to help filter through and decipher the data we have.
Battery tests
Let's begin with those battery tests. This one isn't too complicated, but it can get a bit tricky to physically set up. To measure the voltage and amps the mower pulls during operation, we have to insert our measurement devices between the battery and mower. The physical process varies a bit from mower to mower, but once set up, we get a measure of the DC voltage and amps moving between the battery and mower, which gives us an idea of the mower's motor power (in watts).
We take these measurements at zero load, meaning we aren't cutting grass at the time or otherwise providing any resistance against the blades, which would change the numbers, making them higher to calculate the higher limits of the motor's power. Our next round of testing updates will include those upper power limits as well.
RPM tests
Yes, we absolutely measure blade RPMs in electric mowers. The eagle-eyed lab staff at CNET has developed the ability to count dozens of revolutions per second in a super accurate fashion. I'm kidding, although we do have a meter for that. In reality, we take a bit of reflective tape and position that onto the mower blade, then aim the measurement tool so that the laser light overlaps that tape and we get a precise reading on blade RPM.
You can see our test meter in blue in the center beneath the safety glass.
Now, if we combine those numbers with others such as blade lengths and weights and throw in some of our motor power calculations, we can estimate things like the amount of force, in Newtons, the blade is exerting on grass. Those numbers aren't exceedingly helpful. Most people won't have much of an idea what 5 Newtons of force is comparable to. We prefer to take the route of comparing the power outputs to something people are more familiar with; in this case, horsepower.
Gas-powered push mowers vary in horsepower, but the majority of them land in the 3 to 5-hp range. We will have upper limit numbers added for our next update, but you can see that the lower limit in horsepower for the electric mowers we tested ranged from about 0.1 to 0.6 hp. That is, not much. Generally, you should expect to see electric mowers triple that number toward their upper limits, so we're looking in the 1.75 hp ballpark. You'll be hard-pressed to find retail gas-powered push mowers operating below 2 hp.
Noise level
We talk about sound level often, especially with outdoor-type tools. Historically these outdoor gas-powered tools have been quite loud. (Try to sleep in when all your neighbors are mowing early on the weekends.) With the advent of electric power tool platforms, that's all changing. Your neighbor can obsess over lawn care while you snooze the day away.
We tested the decibel level for the mowers from the point of view of a person operating it. We stationary-mount a decibel meter and take the measurement. The results weren't too surprising, with our quietest mower being the smallest, the 13-inch Litheli at 68.6dB, and the loudest was also the most powerful mower, the Ego, at 86.7dB.
Speed tests
You might normally think of mowers moving at a certain rate; specifically, at whatever rate you happen to be pushing it. An increasing number of mowers are now coming with self-propelled options. Many of these electric-powered mowers allow you to use that function even when the blades aren't running.
We measure how fast mowers move in miles per hour. You won't be visiting any on-ramps with these, but if you plan to use this mode, this may help you decide which one to pick up or pass on. The Ryobi had the widest range of speeds to choose from but fell slightly short of being the fastest mower. Ryobi topped out at 3.03mph and the Greenworks Pro at 3.33mph.
Some mowers, like this Kobalt model, can get bogged down by grass clippings.