A recent Rural Lifestyle Dealer survey found that 86.1% of rural lifestyle dealers carry some form of electric outdoor power equipment at their dealership. Electric mowers followed at 66.7%, and 5.6% of dealers carried electric compact tractors or electric compact construction equipment.

The top brands dealers listed by category were as follows:

Outdoor power equipment (% of dealers carrying electric equipment from that brand)
  • Stihl (28.0%)
  • Echo (18.0%)
  • Husqvarna (10.0%)
  • EGO (8.0%)
  • Greenworks (8.0%)
Mowers 
  • Stihl (22.6%)
  • EGO (12.9%)
  • Greenworks (12.9%)
  • Toro (9.7%)
  • Hustler (6.5%)
  • Mean Green (6.5%)
Compact tractors
  • Solectrac (100%)
Compact construction equipment
  • New Holland (50%)
  • Bobcat (50%)

When asked if they will add more electric equipment offering to their dealership in the next 3 years, 91.2% of dealers said they would.

When asked to share their thoughts on the future of electric equipment in the rural lifestyle market, dealers had the following to say:

  • “It is the future, but I believe the electric products have a way to go before they rival gas powered products.”
  • “Handheld electric adoption will be at 90%, larger equipment 10-20% in the next 7 years.”
  • “It’s a slow start in rural areas but picking up every year.”
  • “For most products, consistency in battery platforms and serviceability are the two most important things. People walk in the door with the expectation of quality and service. We’ve been burned by battery platform and manufacturer changes that make equipment obsolete too quickly. We don’t want to make that mistake again and hopefully manufacturers are looking with an eye toward the future of the product that we’re selling today.”
  • “Handheld tools work great, but larger equipment is not ready to compete equally yet.”
  • “It will be a much harder sell in the rural areas. Handheld and maybe walk behind mowers, but I don’t know about zero turns and tractors in the near future.”
  • “As batteries are getting better by offering lighter weight and longer run times, there is no doubt there will be a shift to electric.”
  • “I think that when something is forced rather than a better product natural progression, it will be met with a lot of failure.”
  • “Tech is accelerating. Where is technical support, training and consumer/dealer confidence?”
  • “It will grow, but not to the point the environment people think it will. I do believe that people will start seeing that the no emissions claim is false as electricity needs to be made with powerplants one way or another and all have emissions or leftovers. Even wind power or solar had the negative effect as the windmill blades cannot be recycled, and it costs a lot to mine the iron ore, lithium and crush the rock to make cement.”
  • “It’s coming whether we like it or not. We’re in a market that will probably be one of the last to adopt, but we are trying to get into the game early so that we can be ready when our clients are.”
  • “Increasing demand as product continues to improve and category selection improves.”
  • “I believe that for any customer short of an acre, they would be just fine running all electric equipment. No gas tank, no carb issues, no starting concerns, etc.”
  • “Zero-turn electric mowers will be common.”
  • “For homesteaders and high-end homeowners who are producing their own electricity, I expect them to increase their conversion to electric equipment.”
  • “I don’t like them. I think they cater to box store and online business models and will not have the longevity of gasoline and diesel-powered equipment.”

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