Dennis ES-34R’s are magnificent at Molineux

Three electric Dennis ES-34R rotary mowers have made life a little easier for the groundstaff at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC according to Anthony Parker, Deputy Head of Grounds.

Battery-powered equipment was always the long-term goal for Molineux Stadium, home to Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, but a change in circumstances gave the club an opportunity to invest in it sooner than planned.

“The Covid season really affected our work after a game,” said Anthony. “All television interviews took place on the pitch so we couldn’t get on straight after a game to start cleaning up. However, the Premier League allowed an exception if electric machinery was used due to it being quieter. We wanted to go down the greener route anyway, so this just helped us make the decision a bit earlier than planned.

“It was important to do our due diligence and look at all the different electric mowers on the market,” continued Anthony. “We trialled several mowers and gathered all the feedback from different members of groundstaff. In the end we just felt more comfortable using the Dennis ES-34R’s. The Dennis mowers we have had in the past have always been very good, robust, trustworthy machines. We have always had good back-up from the company and there is just peace of mind there.”

The ES-34R is a 34" battery powered twin blade rotary mower using the latest lithium-ion battery technology. It is ideal for fine turf mowing and cleaning up operations in stadia and training facilities. Utilising the contra rotating hardened steel blades and low chute ensures maximum collection performance.

While allowing ground staff to achieve an aesthetically pleasing appearance and desired playing surface, the E-Series range will also help meet sustainability and environmental initiatives, minimise carbon footprint, emissions, running costs, HAV's and noise without any range anxiety.

The groundstaff at Molineux had previously used the Dennis petrol rotary mowers – the PRO 34R’s, and these were transferred to the training ground when Anthony purchased three Dennis ES-34R’s. According to Anthony, the ES-34R’s are just as good, if not better, than their petrol counterparts.

“I really like the speed and blade settings on the mower because you can slow it down or speed it up depending on the task. With the blades being on the maximum setting it allows you to suck up more debris and gives you more suction power. On the fast setting you could fly over the whole pitch in 40 minutes to an hour – so it is a big-time saver as well.

Alternatively, if you slow the speed down you can go over areas such as the goal mouths, which have a lot of debris, more carefully– ensuring you pick it all up.”

The Dennis ES-34R is also fitted with a weatherproof colour LCD programmable display and keypad which operates the machine and will feed back information to the operator including ground speed, battery charge level, instructions and much more. This can easily be updated and customised to suit individual customer requirements.

“Everything is made simple by the LCD screen which allows you to change settings with just the touch of a button,” continued Anthony. “We also don’t have to worry about the transportation of fuels and we are storing less fuel on site, so it is all a big plus.

“It has very quick charging, and we don’t have any range anxiety at all. In fact, we can do a full pitch and still have 70% battery left which is very impressive.

“We also find that the ES-34R’s put in a nice bold stripe and there have been quite a lot of times this year leading up to a matchday where we would rotary up and down with them to get that prominent stripe and then we would use the cylinder mowers to cut width ways. Presentation wise we would have no issue cutting with them on a matchday.

“The ES-34R is a well-balanced, user-friendly mower which we could all use for hours on end,” concluded Anthony.