Dixie Chopper launches World's First CNG riding mower
Dixie Chopper looks to improve on the dismal realities of the exhaust-spewing riding lawn mower with its latest machine, the Xcaliber Eco-Eagle. The new mower is powered by a 990cc engine from Generac that's been tuned to run on compressed natural gas, which is both significantly cheaper and cleaner than gasoline. Why does it matter?
Depending on where you live and the size of your home's plot of land, you very well may require a riding lawnmower. Here in Arizona, a riding mower would be completely superfluous, but in my home state of Ohio, where our house sat on more than six acres of property, it was essential to keep the green stuff at bay, and we likely used just as much gasoline cutting the lawn as we did commuting to work.
What's more, the emissions from lawn mowers and the like are almost completely unregulated and extremely damaging to the environment. According to Dixie Chopper's own press release (find it after the break), one hour of grass cutting on a standard gas-powered mower is roughly equivalent to a 350-mile trip in a modern automobile. All that for a lawn? Ouch.
[Source: Dixie Chopper, Green Car Advisor]
PRESS RELEASE:
Speed, quality and reliability may be Dixie Chopper's motto but it is innovation that is its heritage.
First commercial zero-turn mower. First manufacturer to maximize horsepower. First true propane-powered mower. First to offer three-year bumper-to-bumper warranty on its products.
And now...
The next great Dixie Chopper innovation -- the world's first compressed natural gas lawn mower.
The Dixie Chopper CNG mower is officially known as -- the Xcaliber Eco-Eagle. The landmark lawn mower will be unveiled to the world Sunday, April 19 at outset of the four-day Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla.
Dixie Chopper CEO Gary Morgan, Media Marketing Manager Rick Judy and Dixie Chopper Government Fleet Representative Michelle Wallace were on hand in Orlando for the world debut of the CNG machine.
Powered by a 990cc Generac engine, the Eco-Eagle comes with a 66-inch cutting deck, assuring the unrivaled Xcaliber quality of cut.
The new Eco-Eagle embodies the Xcaliber experience with the same features that make the Xcaliber series Dixie Chopper's most powerful and rugged.
Springer forks are standard on all Dixie Chopper Xcalibers, along with an electric deck lift and a new operator-controlled discharge chute (OCDC). There is even a 12-volt adapter, handy not only for your iPod or cell phone but which can be used to charge a walkie-talkie or plug in an emergency light if necessary. The mower also comes equipped with a factory-installed roll bar (now standard on all Dixie Chopper models).
Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel and many cities and towns are changing over their fleets of vehicles and machines to run on this fuel. Since natural gas is plentiful in the U.S., Dixie Chopper believes demand for this mower will only grow as natural gas becomes easier to obtain for the average property owner.
Why worry about cleaner-burning lawn mowers?
Studies (including a 2001 Swedish survey) have shown that air pollution from cutting grass for one hour with a gasoline-powered mower is nearly equivalent to that from a 350-mile automobile trip. Gasoline mowers emit hydrocarbons, and older models with powerful but less efficient two-cycle engines can release as much as 30 percent of their oil and gasoline unburned into the air.
Over the course of one year, a gasoline-powered mower spews 87 pounds of greenhouse gas (CO2) and 54 pounds of other pollutants, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Amazingly, that is as much air pollution as 43 new cars being driven 12,000 miles.
Need a visual on that? Look out the window at your company parking lot the next time the lawn service mows the grounds. Those cars are sitting idly for 8-10 hours, but the gasoline-fueled mower is working and emitting hydrocarbons for basically that entire 8- to 10- hour day.
The EPA says the 54 million Americans mowing their lawns each weekend with gasoline-powered mowers may be contributing as much as five percent of the nation's air pollution.
Need another shocker? The EPA estimates that 17 million gallons of fuel - mostly gasoline - are spilled each year while lawn equipment is being refilled. That is more than all the oil the infamous Exxon Valdez spilled (10.8 million gallons) in the Gulf of Alaska in 1989. In addition to groundwater contamination, spilled fuel evaporates into the air and contributes to smog-forming ozone when cooked by sunlight and heat.
Although compressed natural gas (CNG) does produce greenhouse gases during combustion, it is a more environmentally clean alternative to gasoline, diesel or propane. It also is much safer than other fuels in case of a spill (natural gas is lighter than air, but disperses quickly when released).
A fossil fuel, CNG is made by compressing natural gas -- mainly composed of methane -- to less than 1% of its volume at standard atmospheric pressure.
In response to ever-rising fuel prices and ongoing environmental concerns, CNG is being used in traditional internal combustion gasoline-engine cars that have been converted into dual-fuel vehicles (gasoline/CNG).
CNG also is starting to be utilized in light-duty pickup trucks, delivery trucks, buses, trains - and now, Dixie Chopper lawn mowers.
Backed by the best warranties in the industry -- including Dixie's new three-year, bumper-to-bumper guarantee -- the Eco-Eagle is enhanced by the same speed, quality and reliability standard on all Dixie Chopper models.
And like every Dixie Chopper ever built - it has been manufactured and assembled in the U.S.A.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
brn 7:00PM (4/20/2009)
"Amazingly, that is as much air pollution as 43 new cars being driven 12,000 miles."
Let's say the average vehicle gets 23mpg combined.
12,000 miles / 23 mpg * 43 = 22,434 gallons
I find that really hard to believe. My lawn is much larger than average, at about an acre. Mowing my lawn uses less than ten gallons per year. Are you trying to tell me that my two year old, 4 cycle motor, pollutes at a rate that's thousands of times that of a car?
Oh wait. It was a Swedish study, not one where the regulations are the same as ours. It was for 2-cycle lawn mowers. Good luck finding a 2-cycle lawn mower in this country.
The whole thing smells of something other than gasoline.
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John Rowell 9:34PM (4/20/2009)
Lawn mowers are notoriously under-regulated. Without catalytic converters and other emissions-reducing technologies, for every gallon consumed they can produce many times as much pollution as a car.
BTW, this CNG riding mower looks way cool!!
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posterboy 11:01PM (4/20/2009)
Or you could add some lithium batteries instead and sell an electric riding lawn mower instead, which would eliminate all emissions at the point of use. I can't speak for anyone else, but I think I'd rather plug my mower in when I was done with it rather than connect it to my natural gas line, or have to invest in whatever home device (Phill, etc) that I'd have to use to fill up the tank of my lawnmower. I keep wondering why one of the major manufacturers of riding mowers doesn't come up with a lithium powered model... maybe they are afraid that they won't get enough "range" out of it... ;-P Seriously though, it would be nice to be able to buy an lithium-electric mower. For history buffs, the last one made was called the Elec-Trak, I believe, and their apparently IS a small company working on one (Modern Electric Tractors Inc.)
http://www.modernelectrictractors.com/
Maybe Tesla will come out with the Model LM and corner the market. I'd also bet GM could sell more riding mowers than Volts if they released them both the same year
Food for thought.
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Frank N 12:26AM (4/21/2009)
wonder if a plug in riding mower work
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Phil L. 9:46AM (4/21/2009)
Plug-in riders have been around quite awhile, but have never really taken off.
Learn more about the Elec-Trak here:
http://www.elec-trak.org/
Rain 3:05AM (4/21/2009)
Yeah,before I moved to town back when gas was over $4 a gallon it cost Me $60 a month just to mow the 5 acres around the house.
My gas truck burned $400 a month in gas and the Diesel truck around $125.
It's little wonder that so many People lost homes and not just from the easy credit ripoff gang on Pennsylvania boulevard and family friends on Wall and K street.
Those pesky regulations from the New Deal era were made into law for many important reasons and several more later concerning the banking firm of Harriman &Harriman financing the Nazi Germany steel industry which resulted in Prescott Bush paying 1.5 million in restitution for aiding and abetting the enemy to the Nuremburg court.
But to digress back to the topic at hand about a CNG powered lawn mower.
.90 cents a gallon for CNG and low emissions,if the price is reasonable then this machine with proper maintenance would last many years,the crankcase oil doesn't get
soiled by the ring blow by,keeping the crank and cam bearing's Babbitt coating free from embedded carbon and oil viscosity maintaining surface tension reducing friction into the bargain all from the absence of gasoline to crankcase dilution.
When the price of gasoline goes through the roof again this machine could save the farm,so to speak.
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Andreas E 3:47AM (5/04/2009)
or you can just plant some eco lawn, then you won't have to mow so often. it has longer roots so you won't have to water them so often too.
http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=4&pg=1
Rain 2:42AM (4/22/2009)
I had thought of raising Sheep but the smell and the flies from the Neighbor's Sheep put Me off of that scheme.
Thanks for the fine idea though,I have since auctioned off all My tools and implements and now live in an apartment within biking distance of work and best of all,The Apartment take care of the landscaping.
I might show Gustavo the Landscape Contractor,the CNG Dixie Chopper,He'd probably be serious as hell about getting one.
He strikes Me as a natural born business man and a nice Guy.
Norman Power 12:01PM (7/22/2009)
This lawnmower uses LESS Fuel than it does in the Propane version and less in the Regular gas version. I have seen the REAL TIME tests these are not smoke a mirrors tests. One half fuel used = less pollution just by the volume of fuel consumed Not hard to figure. The only thing is the fueling system for the tanks is the main stumbling block. Get that fixed and the system is actually cheaper to use and safer than carrying gas tanks in the trucks for refuel!
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