Biodiesel Lawn Mowers for Sale

The guy in the picture is JP Patten, entrepreneur and computer expert, shown with his newly outfitted biodiesel lawn mowers. Now, I think this guy’s got a great idea, he buys lawnmower motors from China, takes them apart, rebuilds them so they burn waste grease from deep fryers.

So far, so good. He says the engines are more powerful and more efficient than their gas counterparts, and they cause much less pollution. Ok, I’m sold, but how much are they?

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$1,899. What? Hey, it’s a Toro model that usually sells for $700 with a gasoline engine, and now it burns grease. $1,899, shoot, for that amount of money I can hire the kid down the street to cut my grass with an old-fashioned hand mower and save not only money but even the small amount of pollution created by the “upgraded” mower.

Patten told the Miami Herald, “We’re trying to come up with the iPod of the alternative fuel industry”. His startup company is called HUGR Systems, an acronym for Helping U.S. Grow Responsibly.

So far, he’s sold five mowers and has yet to make a profit, but he’s hopeful the idea will catch on. One business consultant suggested he sell the Toro riding mowers to commercial users, where it would be competitive with gasoline models.

When he’s not spending his working hours teaching doctors how to use computers in operating rooms, Patten heads for the garage and his lawnmower business.

He ran into some problems from the EPA some time ago, when was told he could no longer import the engines from China. Regulations, according to the EPA, require that if the engine can run on biodiesel, it cannot run on regular diesel fuel.

After making necessary changes, Patten got his company up and running again. He’s just waiting for a big order from Toro, something like 50,000 engines. Now that makes sense, but $1899 for a home lawn mower?

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