Green spaces are essential where a lot of people live together. They help to maintain a healthy environment in urban areas. However, densely populated areas also have strict regulations controlling the exhaust and noise emissions of the machinery needed to tend to parks and gardens. Environmental care is now a key driver when choosing ground care maintenance equipment.

Urban parks and green areas need to be tended to just as carefully and intensively as farmland. However, whilst working on a farm is about optimising growth of crops and maximising yield, urban spaces are there for public use, enjoyment and optimisation of living spaces within cities and towns. Yet, less noise and no carbon emissions are still important factors.

Better for the environment and causing less disturbance to the surroundings, the Kubota LXe electric tractor brings reduced maintenance needs, cost savings on maintenance and fuel, and flexibility to growers and municipalities of all sizes.

In Paris, in the Department of Green Spaces and the Environment, Mathieu Benoit of the machinery department explains that, of the 100 tractors they employ in their 2,200 hectares of municipal park and woodland, about 60 of them are Kubota.

“Since 2016, the city of Paris has decided not to purchase any more diesel machinery,” Benoit says. As well as trying to reduce fumes and air pollution from the machines, “we’re trying to reduce noise pollution in the parks, especially in the green areas. There are people walking there, and we’re working there in the same space. If the machine is less noisy, it’s a huge gain in terms of peace and tranquillity.”

They have been trying the Kubota LXe Series and are very satisfied with its work. Whether they use the e-tractor for towing, transporting materials such as soil, leaves, branches or shaping and mowing, the machine has performed beautifully.

As well as reducing pollution, they’re also saving money. “There’s also the economic aspect: electricity is much cheaper than fossil fuel,” says Benoit. “And much more practical when the chargers are installed in the areas where the tractors are used.”

Benoit says they have tested the tractors and found their range satisfactory for their work. “We’d eventually like to eliminate diesel machinery in the long term. For that reason, we need to look for cleaner alternatives.”