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The Best Electric Snow Shovels

By The Consumer's Guide Research Team·Updated September 10, 2026

An electric snow shovel isn't a snow blower, and that's the whole point. You carry it out one-handed, walk it down the sidewalk, and a spinning paddle flings the snow off to one side. Your back stays out of it. There's no gas can, no pull cord, no 30-pound machine to wrestle down the porch steps. For a walkway, a deck, a set of front stairs, or a driveway with three or four inches on it, that's usually enough.

None of them handle deep, wet snow well. Consumer Reports found electric shovels work best on about six inches or less, with performance dropping off sharply once heavy, slushy snow gets deeper than that. They also scrape down to a thin skim rather than bare pavement, so keep a hand shovel by the door. And cordless models average 25 to 35 minutes per charge in Good Housekeeping's lab work, which won't cover a long driveway and the mailbox in one go.

So the question isn't whether one of these replaces a gas blower. It doesn't. The question is which one fits the path you actually clear, and whether you already own batteries that fit it. Weight matters more than you'd guess once you've walked a hundred feet of sidewalk with a tool in your hands. We think that the WORX 40V Cordless Snow Shovel is the best electric snow shovel for most people, and that the Greenworks 80V Brushless Snow Shovel is the one to buy if you get wetter, heavier snow and already own 80-volt Greenworks batteries.

At a glance

Product	Clearing width	Weight	Price
Greenworks 80V 12" Brushless Snow ShovelRunner-up	12 in	15.87 lb	$267.56On sale
WORX Cordless Snow ShovelTop pick	12 in	17.21 lb	$329.99
RYOBI 40V 12" Snow Shovel Kit SnowAlso in lineup	12 in	—	$699.89
Earthwise Power Tools by ALM 20-Volt 12-InchBudget pick	12 in	11 lb	$130.90

How we picked

Weight you carry. We compared manufacturer weights and pulled the ergonomics themes out of owner feedback, since you hold this tool rather than push it. Anything much past 17 pounds got a hard look.

Clearing width and depth. Spec sheets gave us the ratings, and Consumer Reports' finding that these tools fall off sharply above about six inches gave us the ceiling to judge them against. A 12-inch path was our floor.

Throwing distance. We read manufacturer throw ratings alongside owner reports about snow landing back on the path. Under roughly 20 feet, you end up moving the same snow twice.

Battery and platform. We looked at whether a battery and charger are included and whether the pack runs anything else you own, using Good Housekeeping's published runtime work as a sanity check on the claims.

Top pick

The easiest one to live with for most walkways and decks

WORX Cordless Snow Shovel

The WORX WG460 clears a 12-inch path six inches deep and throws snow up to 25 feet, with three directional settings so you're not re-clearing what you just moved. The handle folds flat, and it's the model owners here seem happiest with over a full winter.

$329.99fromAmazon

This is the one that asks the least of you. The handle folds, so it stores upright in a closet or flat against a garage wall. The grip sits high enough that you're not stooping to steer it. WORX rates the tool for a 12-inch path six inches deep, which covers most of what falls in a light-to-moderate snow region. You walk it down the path. You don't push it.

The three-position throwing chute is the part you'll notice on day two. On a narrow sidewalk with a snowbank along one side, you flip the direction and keep going instead of blowing snow back onto the stretch you just finished. WORX rates the throw at up to 25 feet, which is far enough to clear a lawn strip rather than just relocate the pile a foot to your left.

WORX says one charge covers a two- to four-car driveway. That's a manufacturer number, and real runtime depends on how wet the snow is, but it sits in the same neighborhood as the 25-to-35-minute range Good Housekeeping recorded across battery shovels. Wet snow drains a pack faster than powder does. If your driveway runs long, plan on a second battery and swap once.

Owner feedback is the steadiest of anything in this lineup. The recurring theme is that it does what it says on a few inches of fresh snow and gets pulled out all season without drama. The complaints cluster in two places: wet, packed snow, and the ridge the street plow leaves across the driveway apron. That's the same wall every electric shovel runs into.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It's the heaviest of our picks at just over 17 pounds. That's still a third to a half of what a gas single-stage blower weighs, going by Outdoor Power Equipment Institute figures, but you'll feel it partway down a long sidewalk. It's also more than some smaller users will want to carry up and down a set of stairs repeatedly.

It won't touch the compacted ridge a plow leaves at the end of your driveway. Nothing in this class will. Keep a steel-edged hand shovel for that last ten feet, or you'll bog the paddle down and spend the time you saved clearing it out.

Runner-upOn sale

More push through wet snow, if you supply the battery

Greenworks 80V 12" Brushless Snow Shovel

The Greenworks 80V shovel clears a 12-inch path in snow up to eight inches deep, with an LED light for dark mornings and vanes that let you aim the throw. It ships as a bare tool, so the battery and charger are a separate purchase.

$267.56fromAmazonList price ~~$289.99~~ · Save $22.43 (8%)

Popular Mechanics testers cleared a 20-foot walkway under eight inches of wet snow with this shovel in less than five minutes, on a single charge. Wet snow is exactly where most electric shovels give up, so that's the finding worth holding onto. Greenworks rates the tool for depths up to eight inches, a couple of inches past what this category usually manages before it starts skimming.

The LED light sounds like a throwaway spec until you're clearing a walkway before sunrise. Most snow gets moved in the dark at one end of the day or the other, and a light on the tool beats a porch bulb behind you casting your own shadow across the path. The directional vanes do the same job as the WORX chute settings, letting you aim the throw away from the car.

Buy this one only if you're already on the 80-volt platform. It ships as a bare tool, and adding a battery and charger changes the math completely. If a Greenworks 80V mower or trimmer is already in your garage, you're just buying the shovel head and the motor, and that's a genuinely good deal on capability. If you're not on the platform, start with a model that comes with a battery in the box.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Cold starts are the recurring owner complaint, and Greenworks addresses it right in its own instructions: if the tool won't start, pull the battery, warm it indoors for ten minutes, then reinstall it. That's normal lithium behavior in deep cold. It's still an extra ten minutes at the worst possible moment, and it means you can't leave the pack in an unheated shed.

Owner feedback overall runs more mixed than we'd like for a runner-up. And at close to 16 pounds it saves you almost nothing over our top pick, so you're choosing it for wet-snow capability and the battery you already own, not for a lighter tool.

Budget pick

Light enough for stairs, but only good for a few inches

Earthwise Power Tools by ALM 20-Volt 12-Inch

The Earthwise 20V thrower weighs 11 pounds and comes with a 4Ah battery and charger in the box, so there's nothing else to buy. It clears a 12-inch path but only 3.5 inches deep, which makes it a walkway-and-deck tool rather than a driveway one.

$130.90fromAmazon

Eleven pounds is the number that matters here. It's the lightest thing in this guide, and if you're clearing front steps, a small patio, or a condo walkway, that gap shows up by the third trip out. Owners who bought it for stairs and decks are the ones who stay happy with it. Owners who bought it for a driveway are not.

The 3.5-inch clearing depth is a hard limit, not a suggestion. Past that you're taking two bites at the same drift, tipping the head to skim the top layer before you can reach the bottom. That's tolerable on a 20-foot walk. It's miserable across a driveway. If your typical storm drops more than a few inches, spend up on one of the other two picks.

The dual-blade auger and brushless motor are more than you usually get at this end of the lineup, and Earthwise rates the throw at 25 feet, the same as our top pick. Battery and charger come in the box, which matters more than it sounds. One purchase, one box, and you can charge it the night the forecast turns instead of waiting on a separate order.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Twenty volts is 20 volts. On wet, heavy snow it bogs down, and the fix is to slow your pace and take narrower bites, which turns a five-minute job into fifteen. Loose powder is what this one is built for, and it's honest about that.

The battery also has nowhere else to go. Greenworks and Ryobi packs run whole lines of yard tools, so the pack you buy for snow earns its keep in summer. A 20-volt Earthwise pack mostly sits in a drawer until the next storm.

The research

Who this is for

Buy one of these if you clear a walkway, a deck, a set of stairs, a small patio, or a one- to two-car driveway, and if your winters arrive a few inches at a time. They're a good fit if the bending and lifting is the part of shoveling you want gone, and if you have nowhere to store gas and oil. Apartment and condo dwellers get more out of them than anyone.

Skip them if snow where you live gets measured in feet, if your driveway is long or steep, or if the street plow buries your apron every storm. This guide covers handheld battery-powered snow shovels only. It doesn't cover single- or two-stage gas snow blowers, corded push blowers, or plow attachments, which are bigger tools for a different problem.

How we picked

We started with the numbers a manufacturer has to publish and checked them against what independent reviewers and owners report. Weight: you carry this tool, so every pound past about 17 counts against it. Path size: a 12-inch clearing width was our floor, and we judged rated depth against the roughly six-inch ceiling Consumer Reports found for the whole category. Throw: under about 20 feet, snow lands back where you'll walk. Batteries: we favored models that either include a pack and charger or run on a platform you probably already own. Noise: all of these run quiet enough for early mornings, which is half the reason to skip gas.

The competition

This is what our research surfaced, not a census of the category. Electric snow shovels come and go faster than most outdoor tools, and plenty of capable models weren't in front of us.

The RYOBI 40V 12" Snow Shovel Kit Snow ($699.89) — The RYOBI 40V 12-inch Snow Shovel ships as a kit with a battery, and the pitch is obvious: if Ryobi 40V packs are already on your garage shelf for the mower and the trimmer, adding a snow shovel is the easy move. We couldn't put it ahead of our picks, though. The listing is close to bare, with no clearing depth, no throwing distance and no weight to compare, and the owner feedback that exists is thin and not encouraging. If you're deep into Ryobi's 40V line and want everything on one battery, it's a reasonable gamble. If you're not, there's no reason to start here.

Cold-weather care

Store the tool and the battery indoors, not in an unheated shed. Lithium packs lose punch in deep cold, and a frozen one often won't start the motor at all. Greenworks spells out the fix in its own instructions: pull the battery, warm it inside for ten minutes, then put it back. Charge after you finish rather than before the next storm, since most packs need an hour to an hour and a half to fill, according to CNET. Before you put the shovel away, knock the packed snow off the paddle and let the head dry, or you'll find it iced solid next time. Check the paddle edge every few storms too. Rubber wears fast on bare concrete, which is why you keep the tool moving instead of grinding it in one spot.

Questions we get

Can an electric snow shovel handle heavy, wet snow?

Only up to a point. Consumer Reports found performance drops off sharply on wet, heavy snow deeper than about six inches. The Greenworks 80V is the strongest of our picks here, and Popular Mechanics testers cleared a 20-foot walkway under eight inches of wet snow with it in under five minutes. For slush deeper than that, you're back to a hand shovel or a gas blower.

How long does a battery snow shovel run before it needs a recharge?

Good Housekeeping's lab work put battery shovels at 25 to 35 minutes of continuous runtime, depending on how dense the snow is. Wet snow drains a pack noticeably faster than powder. CNET reports most packs refill in 60 to 90 minutes, so a second battery is often the difference between finishing the driveway and standing around waiting.

What's the best electric snow shovel for stairs and decks?

The Earthwise 20V, on weight alone. At 11 pounds it's the lightest here, and carrying a tool up and down steps is exactly where extra pounds show up. Its 3.5-inch clearing depth is fine for a deck you clear after each storm. Just don't expect it to push through a drift on the landing.

Do electric snow shovels work as well as gas snow blowers?

No, and they aren't trying to. A gas single-stage blower eats deeper, wetter snow and clears a wider path in one pass. What you get in trade is a tool that weighs a third to a half as much, going by Outdoor Power Equipment Institute figures, starts with a trigger, and runs quiet enough to use before the neighbors are awake.

Can I use my existing lawn tool batteries in a snow shovel?

Within the same brand and voltage, usually yes. The Greenworks 80V shovel ships as a bare tool specifically for people who already own 80-volt packs, and Ryobi sells its 40V shovel into the same logic. Across brands, no. If you already own one platform, that's the single strongest argument for staying on it.

How much snow depth can one of these actually clear?

Read the depth rating and take it seriously. The Earthwise is rated for 3.5 inches, the WORX for six, the Greenworks for eight. Above the rating you can still work by skimming the top layer and making a second pass, but it's slow and it drains the battery. Consumer Reports puts roughly six inches as the practical ceiling for the category.

Why you should trust us

For this guide:

We read the manufacturer spec sheets and full listings for every shovel in this guide, comparing clearing width, rated depth, throwing distance and weight.
We compared published testing and lab work from Consumer Reports, Popular Mechanics, Good Housekeeping and CNET on how these tools behave in wet snow and how long their batteries last.
We read owner feedback across the lineup for recurring themes, especially cold-weather starting, runtime and how these shovels handle the ridge a plow leaves behind.
We read owner reviews on every listing, weighted toward the critical ones, because that is where the recurring failures show up.
We have a systematic way of automatically fetching the latest prices, so the numbers on this page stay current.
This is a research-focused guide, so the team may not own every product listed — though we often do own the top winners, which gives us extra context for the recommendations.
We don't accept free products, and the retailer commission never changes which product we recommend.