As electric equipment continues to spark debate in the rural lifestyle market, consider the customer’s needs, the reliability and transparency of the OEM and the preparation and training dealership employees must undergo to best serve customers when adding a battery-powered line.

“If your customer is coming in and saying, ‘I want to replace everything in my garage that has gas,’ whether we believe that’s a good or bad decision, if you’re going to serve that customer, you need to have a legitimate product line that’s going to accommodate the needs of that customer from top to bottom,” says Ross Hawley, general manager of the residential and landscape contractor division at Toro. He was joined by Danny Mesick and Nick Moore during a 2024 OPE manufacturer panel at the North America Equipment Dealer Assn.’s Dealer Conference in Dallas, Texas, Jan. 30-31.  

When product lines don’t meet customer needs, dealers will start losing business to locations that offer the most recent products serving the widest range of customers. 

“The alternative is we stay away from battery, somebody else makes that decision, and then it’s harder to win that customer back,” Hawley says. “There’s a lot of opportunity for us to continue to serve the customer better and, frankly, get paid to serve the customer better.” 

Instead of viewing electric equipment as burdensome inventory, it can be a gateway to strengthening current customer relationships and adding a new customer base given the right foundation. 

Research Your Manufacturer

The success of a battery product line comes down to the quality of the product from the manufacturer. All downstream operations and sales are influenced by product reliability, affordability and ease of use. Therefore, selecting the best OEM for a battery-powered equipment line requires careful consideration. 

“You want to look at the OEM’s breadth and depth of product and their history in the business,” says Mesick, director of electrification product management at Stanley Black & Decker, manufacturer of the Cub Cadet, Hustler and DeWalt brands. 

While number of years in business and the quantity and range of battery equipment are important factors that indicate reliability, the reputability of an OEM is also measured by proper safety regulation and disposal procedures. It’s better to take the time to make sure battery products are safe and reliable rather than end up on the news after an accident, Hawley says. 

Though the American National Standards Institute provides regulations for batteries, Moore, director of product management and electrification at Briggs & Stratton, says the current battery-powered equipment market is like the wild west. 

“You really have no idea how people are producing batteries,” Moore says. “The lithium-ion battery market is just catching up to those standards, and there are interpretations that can be made where someone may say they meet one of the standards, but it doesn’t actually yield a safer or better product.” 

This means both the dealer and the OEM have to do their homework about the battery that they’re selling. It may be easy to acquire a battery from another country that has an acceptable safety rating, but without understanding the OEM’s battery strategy or the true quality of that product, dealers may be putting their customers in danger. Whether that means a safety risk or a battery the dealer doesn’t know how to service and support, a dealership’s electric product line should be well-researched, the panelists say. 

Not only should the battery be safe and reliable, the manufacturer should have procedures in place for the end of that battery’s life. As batteries get bigger, it becomes more difficult to dispose of them, and Hawley recommends looking for companies that support recycling or post-use. 

Battery Quality Assurance

Dealers should pay particular attention to safety considerations with smaller OEMs, according to Moore. 

“It may be a good-looking product, but a lot of OEMs aren’t equipped to actually open up the battery pack, see what it looks like inside and truly know how it’s being constructed and at what level of quality,” he says. “It’s not necessarily done maliciously. In many cases, it’s a company that just doesn’t have as high of an expertise, so there’s some questionable practices.” 

With lead acid batteries, Moore says it’s hard to go wrong. In lithium-ion batteries, however, it’s easier to get into trouble. In that case, it’s even more important to make sure OEMs are taking the right steps to ensure the safety of their products. Moore suggests that if a dealer wouldn’t put the battery in their own shed, they shouldn't take it on as a product line. 

“It’s somewhat easy to make a battery. It’s a lot harder to make sure it’s designed properly,” Moore says. 

Sometimes issues are software-based, and sometimes the circuit boards are manufactured inconsistently, says Hawley. A battery might have current going to places it shouldn’t and the design is functionally unsafe or lacks a backup safety system. When OEMs want to demonstrate a fast charging rate, the additional current can overheat the battery and degrade its life over time — and degrade the customer experience, Hawley says. 

Sourcing reputable battery experts and doing research on potential manufacturers when deciding what electric product to add to a dealer’s lineup can help avoid any issues down the road. 

“Pick someone who has a history of serving the customer,” Mesick says. “It also comes down to support. Who’s going to support you as dealers, and then how are you as dealers going to support your end user? If you can get educated from the OEM to best serve your customer in this new technology, then you’re going to adopt electrification and have much more success long-term.” 

Supporting Consumers

To prepare a dealership for the transition into a battery-powered equipment line, manufacturers must be able to adequately assist customers if they have problems as well as deal with environmental safety and liability concerns related to lithium-ion batteries. This requires a comprehensive training program, according to Hawley. However, this wasn’t something Toro needed to invest a considerable amount of effort into as one was already in place for other lines of equipment — and should be for all dealers. 

“Our training program includes everything from battery 101 to things your service techs would need to know,” Hawley says. “We have tools to help do diagnostics, particularly as the equipment gets bigger, more complicated and more sophisticated. We also have a tech services group that’s ready to take your questions when you have them long after training portal courses are completed.” 

For the customer, it’s frustrating to have equipment sitting at a dealership for months waiting to be repaired by technicians who don’t know how to make those repairs. What helps is transparency between the customer and the dealer to get the product back in the field as soon as possible, says Mesick. 

Moore’s goal at Briggs & Stratton is to make the dealer’s life easier, especially as part of a manufacturer that has been previously involved with electric equipment. 

“Dealer’s shouldn’t expect it to be any different than what they’re used to for gas-powered, diesel-powered equipment,” he says. “You’re going to get the same type of interface with the OEMs that have actually invested in their business to ensure that this transition can happen and want to make sure it’s successful at the dealership level.” 

Adding a battery powered equipment line is not just about the technology, it’s about the entire ecosystem around that product, according to Mesick. 

Being knowledgeable about the equipment and invested in supporting customers will attract business. On the front end, however, it requires thorough research and preparation. 

“It’s important to embrace the change,” Moore says. “Make sure you’re getting your staff trained so you can be the one to maintain that customer’s business on the service side when they make the transition to battery.”