WARNING — This business model is not for everyone
The unmanned mowing economy
Bid at prices your competitors can’t profitably match.
Add 20+ points1 to your current margin.
The disruptors.
In their own words.
Watch their stories
1 min 45 sec
“Voyager has transformed how we work, with much lower fuel costs and labour requirements.”
Immo Herbst, Germany
“Voyager handles the mowing, freeing our team for other tasks and reducing their workload.”
“An extra team member.
Without the extra salary.”
“Technology must serve a more sustainable, efficient and innovative city.”
Same team. Twice the lawns.
Turn one two-person mowing crew into two independent operations. No one spends the day riding a zero-turn.
See the economics
The math, step by step
This illustrative model describes a commercial grounds-maintenance contract, where mowing represents approximately half of operating costs and the remainder covers other work and overhead.
The model assumes an 80% reduction in mowing-related operating costs by eliminating the need for an on-mower operator, replacing fuel with lower-cost electricity, and reducing maintenance costs.
In this illustrative model, the 40% operating-cost reduction creates two competitive advantages: the ability to bid 20% lower to win more contracts—and still add more than 20 points to profit margin.
Assumptions and limitations
This is an illustrative scenario, not a forecast or guarantee of results. Figures are rounded. Actual cost reductions and margins will vary according to labour costs, crew structure, utilization, property mix, site conditions, transport, energy costs, maintenance, equipment configuration, financing, contract terms and pricing strategy.
The result is expressed in percentage points, not as a percentage increase. In this illustration, a 10% starting margin becomes 32.5% after a 20% lower bid—a 22.5-point gain. Under the same model, businesses starting at or below 20% margin gain at least 20 points.
In this illustration, “mowing-related operating costs” comprise the on-mower operator, energy and maintenance allocated to the mower. Equipment investment and five-year ownership costs are addressed separately in the five-year economics comparison.
What this can enable
Lower bids can help win additional contracts. When that demand is available, freed crew capacity can be redeployed to service more work without adding headcount.
The math is simple1.
Bid 20% lower.
Add 20 points to your margin.
The 5-year economics1
of unmanned mowing
Now multiply by your crews.
Assumptions behind the five-year economics
This illustrative comparison estimates the five-year mowing cost per acre of one conventional zero-turn mower and one Voyager with a comparable deck size. It includes equipment investment, fuel or electricity, maintenance and on-mower operator labor.
Cost per acre = five-year modeled cost ÷ total acres mowed.
It is not a quotation, forecast or guarantee of savings.
Operating period and productivity
The model assumes 200 working days per year for five years, with seven hours available for mowing each day. Voyager receives one overnight charge, with no midday recharging.
Voyager hourly productivity is entered separately in the model at 0.96 acres for the 40\" and 2.5 acres for the 60\". The supplied coverage and runtime assumptions are:
- 40″: 7 acres per charge over 5.5 hours.
- 60″: 19 acres per charge over 8.5 hours.
These figures are provisionally assumed to describe the same operating conditions. No additional allowance for turns and overlap is applied.
The model assigns conventional mowers hourly productivity of 1.7 acres for the 40\" and 3 acres for the 60\", compared with 0.96 and 2.5 acres respectively for Voyager. These assumptions require comparative validation.
The 40″ Voyager therefore mows 6.72 acres per day, versus approximately 11.9 acres for the conventional mower operating for seven hours. Both 60″ machines mow approximately 17.5 acres during the seven-hour mowing day.
Output is measured in cumulative acres mowed, including repeat visits—not the size of a unique land area or the number of complete properties.
Equipment investment
Voyager purchase prices are $60,000 for the 40″ and $100,000 for the 60″, excluding VAT.
Conventional mower purchase allowances are $15,000 and $18,000 respectively, pending validation against selected commercial models and a consistent tax basis.
Actual prices vary by market, configuration, dealer and commercial terms.
Fuel and electricity
Five-year conventional fuel allowances are $44,205 for the 40″ and $0 for the 60″. These remain provisional inputs requiring validation against benchmark fuel consumption, operating hours and local prices.
Voyager electricity costs use battery capacities of 10 kWh and 38 kWh, an illustrative electricity price of $0.19/kWh and assumed charging efficiency of 90%.
Daily electricity consumption is approximately 7.78 kWh for the 40\" Voyager and 31.29 kWh for the 60\" Voyager. It is calculated in proportion to seven mowing hours, using runtimes of nine hours and 8.5 hours respectively.
This produces five-year electricity allowances of approximately $1,478 and $5,946.
Labour
The conventional mower includes a provisional operator-cost allowance of $38,191.67 per year.
The $0 shown for Voyager refers only to the absence of an on-mower operator. Mowing-related deployment, supervision, intervention and retrieval labour has not yet been costed. Labour allocation must be validated consistently across both alternatives.
Trimming, edging and other non-mowing services are outside the comparison. Redeploying employees does not automatically reduce payroll.
Maintenance and other exclusions
Five-year maintenance allowances are $15,000 per conventional mower and $0 per Voyager. These require validation against service requirements and expected utilization.
The comparison excludes transport vehicles and trailers, their running costs, financing, inflation, replacement equipment or batteries, and resale value. Equipment life, battery degradation and downtime require further assessment.
Reading the results
Cost reduction is calculated by comparing Voyager’s cost per acre with that of the corresponding conventional mower. Figures are rounded for display; calculations use unrounded values.
Results remain provisional and depend on productivity, utilization, labor allocation and cost assumptions. They are not equivalent reductions in total business costs or guaranteed increases in profit.
40” deck
60” deck
Kress Voyager.
Your unfair advantage.
Two commercial decks.
One business model.
The technology is advanced.
Using it feels natural.
Watch the demo · 2 min.
For the landscapers who plan
to own the market
Give your team more time for the details customers notice.
How is a property mapped?
A team member rides Voyager around the perimeter to create a map, which is saved for future mowing.
5,000-hour service life
Designed for up to 5,000 hours2 of high-performance commercial mowing with minimal maintenance.
Power for the way you work
Voyager 40″ — up to 5.5 hours1 of mowing per charge2.
Voyager 60″ — up to 8.5 hours1 of mowing per charge.
Multiple layers of protection
Cameras, LiDAR and ultrasonic sensors work together to help detect obstacles during autonomous mowing.
If an incident is caused by a fault in Voyager’s autonomous system, Kress accepts responsibility.
Safety systems and certification
Autonomy changes the nature of risk. When the operator is removed, safety does not disappear — it is engineered, validated, and multiplied.
The Kress Voyager is the first in its class to achieve a comprehensive set of independent, third-party certifications across both Europe and North America.
These certifications validate mechanical, electrical, operational, and connected-system safety for commercial autonomous mowing.
Within this certification framework, safety is the most scrutinized and critical dimension of autonomous operation.
Kress Voyager delivers two industry firsts where it matters most:
- Dual safety certification under ETL CUS and the CE Machinery Directive, authorized by Intertek1, validating both mechanical and electrical safety
- EN 18031 RED cybersecurity certification, issued by TÜV SÜD2, ensuring a secure and reliable connected system
Backed by people you can turn to
Voyager is supported by Kress Voyager-certified dealer network, with local expertise and service support to help keep your business moving.
Your fleet. In view.
Track your Voyagers across sites through the Kress Commercial app.
