The 2023–24 mowing season has begun, and Canberra’s rapid response mowing team now have four new electric ride on mowers, replacing diesel powered ones.

“The electric mowers require minimal maintenance, with no grease points or belts and tubeless tyres which help to achieve excellent cutting results and rider comfort,” Chris Steel, ACT Minister for Transport and City Services, said.

“Charge time for these mowers is approximately six hours, providing eight hours of run time. The mowers are also lighter than other machines in the fleet, which reduces the chance of them becoming bogged.”

This will support the ACT Government’s commitment to achieve zero net emissions from Government operations by 2040, Mr Steel said.

One electric mower was trialled last season.

The fleet will mow more than 5,000 hectares of grass each mowing cycle, Mr Steel said.

The mowing season generally runs from September until March.

The effectiveness of the mowers will be monitored over the next three seasons.

Last season, the mowing team spent more than 35,000 hours on machines mowing across Canberra. 

After a busy couple of seasons with high rainfall, this season is not expected to be as wet, Mr Steel said. It will still be a busy one, however, as a well-watered landscape will provide plenty of moisture for strong grass growth in the coming months.

“The team are well prepared to tackle grass growth across the city and will have the additional support of the rapid response mowing team,” Mr Steel said. “The rapid response team of 10 extra staff and eight additional mowers will continue to help bolster mowing capacity with a focus on higher priority areas such as line of sight safety issues.”

The community can keep up to date on when their suburb will be mown with the mowing map displayed on the City Services website at cityservices.act.gov.au