Modern Vespa

I'm originally from NH but lived the last 30 years in Florida so I am behind the times when it comes to snow removal. I am now in Indiana and while we don't get a ton of snow last year it got ahead of me in the driveway using just a shovel.

I'm interested in battery powered options. I've done some research but I was hoping to get some first hand input here. My driveway is about 60 ft long and also has parking for 4 vehicles. Is a battery option viable for this size area and if so what have other people used?

We have lived in our house for nearly 18 years. We have a 100' driveway and walks all around the house. I have never owned a gas powered snowblower.

We have, however, owned two Snow Joe corded electric snowblowers. I wouldn't have anything else at this point. No issues starting and I can hang it on the wall in the summer. Also much cheaper than the battery options.

I did consider corded and I have looked at Snow Joe (cordless) as well as ECO. I guess the cordless option is more attractive to me because I was thinking the cord would be a hassle and get in the way.

It's a tradeoff. Is it a cord? Yes. Does it sometimes get in the way? Yes. Does it cost a lot less than a battery? Yes. Do I ever have to worry about running out of charge? No.

For me it was a simple decision. I like the appeal of battery power, but again ... we have a lot to clear sometimes.

Either way, they don't smell like gas.

Thanks Seamus

This year I got a new EGO cordless mower with a 7 Amp-hour battery. It's just enough to mow my lawn on one charge, where my old mower took just a little less than one tank of gas (about 1/4 gallon). My driveway is about 40 ft. long and 2 cars wide. I use my gas powered two-stage snow blower to clear it when there's more snow than I feel like shoveling. My gut feel (from experience with the mower) is that a cordless snowblower with the same battery as the mower would clear snow up to about 6 inches, but wouldn't do a lot of heavy snow on one charge. It takes a lot of time and energy to clear a foot of snow.

Wouldn't you rather be scooting!!!

If I have to buy a snow blower to clear snow I would rather move to somewhere that I just wait a few hrs and it gone. kinda like where I am at now. Heck even if its a couple days wait I am good with that too. The gas log fireplace always lights right up and I have plenty of adult beverages to choose from.

One thing to keep in mind is you are in a relatively southern location.
The relevance of this did not become apparent to me, in terms of my own personal snow removal requirements, until I moved to Rockford, IL area.
Prior to that I grew up around Minneapolis, MN, and went to college in (and now reside near) Madison, WI.

What I'm getting at is this: Snow in southern Illinois/ish will be wet. And that means heavy.

24" in Minnesota takes about similar effort to move like ~12" in Rockford.
Of course, you get 10" in a heavy year, MN gets 100".

And those poor folks in Buffalo, NY get over 200"....

If it was me, I'd get the one with the cord.

I have had a cheaper model corded snow blower, it worked well, and would recommend a corded electric snow blower.

I have almost similar situation, ~65 ft driveway, ~3,5-4 car width wide.

I haven't used any powered tools, yet (reading with interest comments about the electric ones), but I always use these sleigth shovel - type shovels, makes the work much faster & lighter than with small shovels.

My neighbor across the street has a corded electric snowblower. Let me preface by saying he does NO home maintenance himself - grass cutting, landscaping, painting, gutter cleaning, nothing. He DOES snowblow his driveway though. He just started two years ago, prior to that he had his lawn guy plow the drive. So I'm saying he's not the best do-it-yourself kind of guy. It is a comedy act to watch him snowblow. The cord gets tangled constantly. It gets ripped out of the socket, flung into the air, etc. Two years ago after a huge snowstorm he was out there doing his thing while I was snowblowing with my conventional gas blower. After I was done (while he was still trying) he and his wife walked over with a fifty dollar bill and asked me to do his drive.... I laughed and said: "here's the snowblower, you do it- just leave it in front of my garage when you're done." If you hate snow as much as me you'll want to make this job as stress free as possible.

p.s. 95% of the time I shovel the drive and sidewalks. It's good exercise.

Bob

I've got a fairly large driveway and long sidewalks to clear. I normally don't bother with the snow blower unless we get more than 4".

I've got a 2 stage gas snow blower as it will easily handle heavy, wet, icy mid-western snow. It allows me to handle the large pileup at the bottom of my driveway left by the snow plows as well. It cuts my clearing time to 1/3 of that shoveling, and I won't hurt myself.

When I do break it out, I typically do a few neighbors driveways as well.

I envy you folks in the milder clims. Last Friday night, 16 inches here at my house.
I go for a large two stage gas snowblower. I spent four hours Saturday morning helping
the neighbors without snow machines. Digging out by shovel is both back braking and
a big cause of heart attacks. I do you a three foot wide show pusher shovel for under
2 inches.

Here is what Frost Bite Falls looks like on a frequent basis during the Winter.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmvMNMUy

Bob mentioned two stage. Is it correct that two stage throws the snow further and can do deeper snow?

Yes.

We had this Snow Joe in Breckenridge. The people who bought our house now have it.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3OXF6A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Purchased back in 2015 we were still on the original battery that would basically do our entire driveway if there was less than say 5-6" of snow. We did end up replacing the auger blades in 2018 for $16.95 but the replacements were still going strong when we sold the house December 2020. Note we had a plowing service for heavier snows so mostly used it when there was less than 4" of new snow (the level at which our snow removal contract kicked in) or if we had to get out while it was still snowing. Driveway was fairly steep and probably 50' long. Parking for 3 cars at the bottom of the driveway. If for some reason there was too much snow or the snow was wet and heavy so that one charge wouldn't do the whole thing it only took a couple of hours to have it charged up enough to do the rest.

Ironically the newer version of the one we have is $80 less than I paid in 2015 https://smile.amazon.com/Snow-Joe-24V-X2-SB18-Cordless-Batteries-dp-B07YT8VZF6/dp/B07YT8VZF6/ref=dp_ob_title_garden and has a 48 instead of a 40v battery.

At one point I owned a corded electric lawnmower. As a result of having to drag that cord around I didn't consider a corded electric when I was looking for a snow blower. It was either gas or battery. If we didn't have a plow service I'd have opted for the large 2 stage like Bob has (the not uncommon 1.5-3.5' dumps weren't something I wanted to have to deal with especially when we weren't full time up there). All I really needed was for the lighter snowfalls and in case of emergency the 18" Snow Joe did well. Note, I have used it on more than a foot of snow but it usually takes two charges to clear the entire driveway with that much and was only done when we didn't have time to wait for the service to come plow.

My Dad had an electric lawnmower back in the early '60s:

https://www.oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk/mowers/moms/mp036-atco-battery-mower-1950s60s

Wow! 30 whole minutes on a charge and it only weighed 840lbs?