NEWS
24
2026
-
07
A U.S. Lawn Care Companies Battery Upgrade Plan for Its Electric Mower Fleet
Orlando, Florida - Monday morning in July, the temperature has already climbed to 32°C, with humidity pushing 90%. Jake Martinez hops out of his Ford F-250 pickup, opens the rear doors of his trailer, and reveals six commercial lithium-electric mowers and three string trimmers neatly lined up inside.
Orlando, Florida - Monday morning in July, the temperature has already climbed to 32°C, with humidity pushing 90%. Jake Martinez hops out of his Ford F-250 pickup, opens the rear doors of his trailer, and reveals six commercial lithium-electric mowers and three string trimmers neatly lined up inside. He glances at the battery charging cabinet on the side of the trailer - all six 80V lithium batteries show full charge, green indicator lights arranged in a row, almost like they're smiling back at him.
Three years ago, this scene looked completely different.
Jake is the owner of a lawn care company, with five employees serving over 40 high-end residential and commercial clients around Orlando.
"We switched from gas mowers to lithium-electric mowers in 2022," Jake says as he inspects the blades. "At the time, it felt like a huge leap forward - no emissions, no noise, no oil changes. But I quickly discovered a new problem: the batteries."
The mowers use an 80V system, each equipped with two 8Ah batteries used alternately. Six mowers meant 12 batteries - a significant asset, and an ongoing nightmare.
"On Friday before we left, we'd plug all the batteries in to charge," says Jake. "Come Monday morning, there was always one or two with a red indicator light - they wouldn't take a charge. Sometimes it was thermal protection, sometimes the BMS had locked up, and sometimes I had no idea why."
Even worse was the battery runtime degradation. A new battery lasted nearly two hours. After a year of use, an hour was about all you could get. For Jake's team, that meant interrupting work mid-afternoon to walk back to the truck and swap batteries - jobs that should have taken one day were stretching into two.
Jake started researching whether there was a better solution. He came across a discussion on a lawn care industry forum - someone asked why not treat landscaping tool battery systems the same way modular energy storage systems are used in RVs and marine applications.
"The author of that post said he used Victron chargers and a large-capacity LiFePO₄ battery bank to create a 'central charging station' for his entire tool fleet," says Jake. "I thought - that's exactly the right approach."
Traditional landscaping tool battery systems are "distributed" - each battery has its own charger, its own BMS, its own lifecycle. The "central charging station" concept, by contrast, uses a large-capacity storage battery as an "energy warehouse," with Victron smart chargers topping up each individual tool battery.
"I looked into Victron's equipment," says Jake. "Their SmartSolar MPPT and Blue Smart chargers can precisely control the charging curve, optimised for different battery types. And their Cerbo GX system controller lets me see the charge status of every single battery on my phone - that feature was a game-changer for me."
Next came the storage battery selection. Jake needed a battery system with enough capacity, robust reliability, and the right form factor for installation in his trailer.
"I came across Wysher online," says Jake. "Their Auran 48100ESS R is a 51.2V 100Ah LiFePO₄ battery - 5.12kWh per unit. I plan to install four in parallel - 20kWh of capacity, enough to fully charge all my tool batteries several times over."
"And Wysher's batteries support CAN-bus communication, integrating perfectly with Victron's Cerbo GX. That means I can monitor the storage battery's status in real time on my phone - knowing how much charge is left and how many tool batteries I can still recharge."
The Final System Configuration
After months of planning and working with a local electrical specialist, Jake finalised a "central charging station" setup, all installed inside his work trailer:
Component | Model | Qty |
Storage batteries | Wysher Auran 48100ESS R | 4 (parallel) |
Inverter/charger | Victron MultiPlus 48/3000/35-50 | 1 |
Solar charge controller | Victron SmartSolar MPPT 150/70 | 1 |
System controller | Victron Cerbo GX | 1 |
PV system | Flexible solar panels | 800W |
Battery charging station | Multi-port lithium chargers | 6 |
Display screen | Victron GX Touch 50 | 1 |
(Note: The above reflects the actual setup at GreenCut. The Wysher Auran 48100ESS R batteries are modular and support parallel expansion for future needs. Four units in parallel provide 20.48kWh of storage - enough to power the entire tool fleet for several days of operation completely off-grid.)
The system was installed in March 2024. Jake converted his trailer into a mobile charging station - 800W of solar panels on the roof, four Wysher batteries, a Victron MultiPlus inverter, and a bank of tool battery chargers inside.
"The first time I opened the VRM after installation and saw the real-time data on the screen - storage battery at 92%, solar input 340W, currently charging the third tool battery - I thought, this is what running a business should feel like," says Jake. "Everything under control."
What impressed Jake most was the remote monitoring capability of the Cerbo GX. Previously, he had to personally check the trailer every day - which batteries were charged, which weren't, which had failed. Now, every morning while drinking coffee in his kitchen, he opens the VRM app on his phone and sees all the data.
"Before, my Monday morning routine was - get to the shop, open the trailer, check all 12 batteries, find the bad one, then call the supplier and complain," Jake laughs. "Now my Monday routine is - drink coffee, check my phone, and head out. The time I save lets me take on one more client."
Another pleasant surprise was the cycle life of the Wysher batteries. The four Auran 48100ESS R units deliver over 6,000 cycles - at one charge-discharge cycle per day, that's over 16 years of use.
What truly convinced Jake was the system's performance through Florida's brutal summers. In Orlando, trailer temperatures often exceed 50°C in summer - a serious test for any electronic equipment.
"The original factory batteries were especially prone to thermal protection shutdowns in summer," says Jake. "Sometimes they'd stop charging after just half an hour, flashing a red light - you had to wait for them to cool down before resuming. Summer efficiency was terrible."
In contrast, Wysher's LiFePO₄ batteries gave Jake peace of mind in high temperatures. The LiFePO₄ chemistry itself offers exceptional thermal stability, operating safely even in the trailer's hot environment. The built-in BMS constantly monitors each cell's temperature to prevent overheating.
"On the hottest day last summer, the thermometer in the trailer read 56°C," says Jake. "I opened the VRM - battery temperature was 46°C, still within normal range, charging continued as usual. I was completely reassured."
From an ordinary work trailer where "there was always one bad battery on Monday morning," to a mobile charging station where "everything is under control, anytime, anywhere" - Jake's battery upgrade solution is drawing increasing attention from fellow lawn care professionals.
Key words:
Related news
From Diesel Generator to Solar+Storage: The Energy Revolution of a Telecom Base Station in Africa
In a remote region of Somaliland, East Africa, a solitary telecom base station stands on the arid red earth. This station provides the only mobile signal for dozens of surrounding villages - for local residents, it is their sole link to the outside world.
In the South Pacific, Fiji - 900,000 people spread across 110 of its 330 islands. For the nation's public broadcaster, delivering news and entertainment to the entire population has always been a monumental challenge - weak terrestrial signals, frequent power outages, and the fury of cyclone season have made television reception a distant dream for many residents on remote islands.
Smart Lithium-Ion Retrofit of an AGV Fleet at an E-Commerce Warehouse
Jiaxing, Zhejiang - a large e-commerce fulfilment centre, 4:00 a.m. Inside the tens-of-thousands-square-metre sorting hall, thirty automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are rapidly moving racks, transporting ordered goods from storage to the packing area.
The Lithium-Ion Upgrade of an AGV Fleet in a Cold-Chain Warehouse
Taicang, Jiangsu - a large cold-chain logistics distribution centre, 2:00 a.m. Inside the –18°C freezer, sixteen automated guided vehicles (AGVs) silently weave between the racks, moving pallet after pallet of frozen food from the receiving area to their designated storage slots.
From Diesel Generator to Solar+Storage: One British Farm Families Journey to Energy Independence
In the Cornwall countryside, a stone farmhouse built in the 19th century is home to James and Emily and their three children. The property was originally the dwelling of a small dairy farm; today, James runs a boutique cheese-making workshop here, while Emily looks after the children and manages the farm's online sales.
In the Surrey countryside, a four-bedroom detached house built in the 1990s is home to Martin and his family of four. Like many British households, they faced the same frustrations: soaring electricity prices, solar power wasted during the day when no one was home, and the occasional grid fluctuation that left their sensitive electronics on edge.