WOLF-Garten striving to ready laser mower

Golf Course News, Dec 2001 by Joyner, Joel

BETZDORF, Germany - WOLFGarten introduced its prototype laser mower, the Zero, in Europe earlier this year (GCN January). The company is now refining the "revolutionary" machine in order to take the product to the worldwide marketplace.

Bringing down the price is the primary objective for the company. "The price, at the moment, is too expensive," said Hubert Bihnrer, manager for motorized products. "We've discussed it with our European suppliers, and we believe that in one or two years it may be more viable.

"It's possible in that time to reduce the price from 60,000 German marks [about $27,500] - for just the laser cutter itself - to between 10,000 to 15,000 marks [about $4,600 to $6,900, respectively]," Bihnr said. "Once that is achieved, then well start to bring the machine to the market. At the moment, there's no chance because the mower would be around 100,000 marks [approximately $45,8001."

WORKING TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY

Ten years ago, Bihnrer explained, costs for the same laser cutting system alone ranged to as much as $160,000. One of the biggest issues in bringing down the price has been working to focalize the laser using power efficiently.

"It requires a lot of power at the moment," said Bihm-er, "about six to 10 kilowatts to cut the grass. We're working to bring it down to around one kilowatt It will make it a very small and efficient system."

The Zero mower will be marketed worldwide, according to Bihnrer. "But we'll start it off in Europe first to solve any issues with safety regulations," he said.

Developed on the chassis of a Mercedes Smart Cabriolet- a twoseat convertible - the laser mower comes with Internet capabilities and is approved for use on public roads. The machine is known as the Zero because of the vehicle's features. There's zero noise emitted because grass is cut by lasers rather than rotating blades. There is zero disposal since grass clippings are chopped and dried in a siltidry process and redistributed to the turf as tiny particles. There are zero exhaust emissions from its environmentally-friendly engine with a catalytic afterburning of fuel. Also, there are zero problems with thatch and mold formations due to the special drying process.