The Elizabeth Twins solar-electric lawn care business is declining.

Philip Coope Tuesday his brother Dmitry Coope uses an electric cutter in Cape Elizabeth. The brothers, both in high school, started a zero-emission solar-electric lawn business. Ben McCanna / Staff Photographer

Cape Elizabeth – Do two boys mow in the summer to make money? There is nothing new there.

What about young twins who have a growing, all-electric, zero-emission grass business?

Now that end is being cut.

Dmitry and Philip Coope, both 17, own solar motors, one of the state’s few electric grass care services, and probably the only one that pays for solar energy. 3-year-old enterprise is keeping pace with national noise by supporting noise and gasoline landscaping equipment.

The evolutionary history of the Solar Mow is as hot as the desire to earn some dollars in the summer and how to save the planet, one lawn at a time.

Generational entrepreneurship is also history. Their father, Phil Coupe, is the founder of South Portland Review Energy. A.D. Since its inception as a small renewable energy company in 2005, ReVision has grown to become the first solar-powered roof in North New England with 350 employees.

A.D. In 2020, Kupe told the high school students that their parents would not give them money to feed their friends. It’s time to get summer jobs.

Kupe suggested that the twins start a zero-emitting lawn care service by mowing the lawns of teenagers and always thinking of climate-appropriate angles. He said to them, “Be your leader.” And (of course) since you live in a house with solar-electric panels on the roof, you can charge the mower batteries without fossil fuels.

Last year, Dmitry and Philip Coop pulled out a solar mouse scythe with a plug-in Nissan leaf, at a customer home in Cape Elizabeth. The car is from their father’s business, ReVision Energy. Their new harvest is very difficult to pull off. Photo courtesy of Solar Mow

The idea was not a whore. The children were 14 years old. They were busy with sports. And they only had $ 400 in the bank. Fortunately, they were able to negotiate a comfortable loan at Father Bank. For $ 6,000, basic, all electric landscaping: Ryobi riding scissors with a 42-inch floor, 21-inch ego thrust machine, wireless cutter and a small trailer.

Next are some Facebook ads, a few flyers and a lot of knocking on doors. Suddenly, the men had 12 customers in the Cape Elizabeth area. Solar Mow was in business.

Early on, the young twins relied on their father to get them around first. “This car is powered by solar energy,” he said, pulling the trailer behind a fully electric Nissan Leaf. They tried to get close to their customers, so they rode the harvester on the road.

“We did not repay the loan in the first summer,” says Philip. But he gave us confidence.

Next spring, it was time to roll over the business.

Philip says: “My father started helping us to knock on his door every day to find more work. “We were skeptical of doing this.”

Dmitry explained why.

Philip Coope uses an electric cutter in Cape Elizabeth. A.D. In the summer of 2021, the Solar Move had 30 labels. Ben McCanna / Staff Photographer

“We were really lazy,” he said. “As high school students, we like to play sports on the field with our friends.”

They were connected, and in the summer of 2021, the Solar Mow had 30 labels, some of them in South Portland and neighboring Portland. But the rider, built primarily for weekend fighters and suffering from improperly stored batteries during the winter, began to die. It was not just about cutting 3 acres of grass a day. The twins have made a decision.

They decided to grow up. In the middle of summer, they traveled to New Hampshire to pick up an average green inch of 60-inch deck. Built in Ohio and considered the world’s first commercial electric car, the average green competitor model can last for seven hours. Tesla rides a harvesting machine.

It came at $ 24,000 at Teslaesque. This requires an additional loan from the Family Bank. But the new harvest capabilities have allowed the solar mower to grow to 35 customers this year.

Dmitry Coope harvests grass in Cape Elizabeth’s electric mower. Ben McCanna / Staff Photographer

Earning an average of $ 50 a week, Solar Mow created enough cash to pay off his father’s debt. It is enough that the business company took its first employee high school friend.

“We got the money back from my dad,” says Philip last week. “Now everything is profitable.”

plug in

Last Tuesday, the young men were working at a house in the Cape Cove neighborhood. They dragged their trailer into the family’s 2022 Ford Escape hybrid plug-in. The SUV can travel more than 40 miles by battery alone and fills the Coupe House.

Soon the owner, Sam Milton, came out.

Milton learned about solar moons in May at Cape Elizabeth High School Advertising and presented TEDx Talk, “The Future is Electric.” Their business model agreed with him.

Milton Consulting Business, Climate Resources Group, helps companies on sustainability issues. It also has solar panels on the roof and is powered by an electric Chevy Bolt.

“I didn’t even know it was an option until I saw Teddy’s piece,” he said.

Recent rain and warm weather have created a green carpet sprayed with white clover. As Milton watched, Philip cut a large sledgehammer into an average green machine. Dmitry instigated weed fraud along the fence line. Their friend, Jack Carignan, drowned out the margins. Working together, they shouted at half an acre in half an hour.

Milton said he was happy to support young entrepreneurs in the clean energy business.

“I hope many companies imitate what they do,” he said.

Keep clean and quiet

Pressure for electric lawn care is being carried out nationwide by laws and regulations that deal with noise, air pollution, and global warming related to gasoline-powered equipment.

California has imposed a statewide ban on the sale of most new gas cutters, cutters, and windmills since 2024. It includes a $ 30 million subsidy program to transform small landscaping companies.

Gas dryers have been banned in Washington, DC, since January 1. Some cities around Boston have similar restrictions on the use of cappuccino in leafy areas such as Marbled and Lexington. Some landscaping companies have pushed back these provisions, citing the cost of replacing their equipment. But others accepted it. TJ Collins Landcaping, a company based in Westwood, Massachusetts, has set up a unit to promote its electrical equipment in a large, trailer on the roof.

According to industry forecasts, homeowners are also taking care of wireless electric lawns. Long-lasting batteries, reliable operation and prices help to make a difference equal to conventional gas models. The Push mower used by Solar Mo, for example, sells for $ 300 to $ 400 today at home improvement stores, including batteries and chargers.

Dmitry Kupe, Left, Philip Coope and their co-worker, Jack Carignan, took electric motors to the trailer before leaving for work. Ben McCanna / Staff Photographer

And unlike electric cars, lawns are widely available. According to a recent report by Fact MR, the share of US electric motors has increased by 65 percent.

“Electric lawn mowers have made a complete transition from new to original,” the report said.

In the suburbs of Portland, however, battery grass care still has enough cache to give brand names to former entrepreneurs.

Jason Bachelor of South Portland began pushing his education in environmental technology and biology into the human landscape business in 2017 with Cobalt Electric. A few years later, he became an average green driver and joined organic grass care. Today, his business, Sweet Pea Lawn Care, serves 38 clients in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth.

According to Bachler, their customers appreciate non-lethal devices, but this is not their biggest advancement.

“I started with the impact on air quality,” he said. “But people were so excited to see what I had found that it was quiet. That has expanded the business beyond the local area.

Chris Capron is a real estate investor in Scarborough and has a lawn mower on his property. He wanted to go to Electric, but he decided to start a side fight called Lan Eve.

Caproron bought two Massachusetts vendors with an average 52-inch cutting blade for $ 23,000 each. It also has an EGO push mower, weed mower and drain.

Capron has been sharing grass care with his 15-year-old son, Sen.

“The long-term goal is to take control of the business,” Capron said.

Sustainable business

As Solar Mow is becoming more and more established, Coupe Twin is becoming a viable ambassadors for the benefit of environmentalists, with the goal of eliminating all fossil fuels and utilities from renewable sources.

Last autumn, the twins were invited to bring their pick-up trucks to LL Bin and show them to the camp staff. A friend’s father provided the retailer’s giant equipment and prepared a presentation for the staff, who expressed a desire to go completely electric. It was a proven time for Solar Move, just like TEDx Talk.

Both Dimitri and Philip Cope said they were interested in climate change and began thinking about how to translate that into professional careers. They want to find jobs in a sustainable environment. Growing up seniors, the youngsters are attending colleges this summer, recently visited their father’s alma mater, Boston College.

The upcoming graduation opens a discussion on the future of Solar Mow. You can do it next summer, but what happens when college starts is an open question.

“We have to make a business decision,” said Dmitry. But there is nothing better than being your own boss. My Father Taught Me ”

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