As we near the end of 2016, let's not concentrate on the aspects of the year which have been less than ideal, let us consider instead an area of the industry which has proved successful - and indeed has potential to continue that path in 2017 and beyond.

For me an area which has really stood out this year has been battery powered, cordless machinery.

This seemed to be the year that battery equipment really took off. It appeared that plenty of manufacturers wanted in on the sector. No longer really a niche sector, any brand worth its salt needed to offer a line of cordless products.

And significantly, it appears that dealer attitudes to the product have shifted. When we would first talk about cordless in Service Dealer, we would often receive feedback from readers that was somewhat suspicious of the trend, if not outright hostile. The understandable fear was that increased usage of the equipment would directly lead to less service work. We saw some comments going as far as saying the machines signified the end of the servicing dealer!

The impression I've been left with this year though, is that dealers on the whole have moved away from those kind of feelings. Certainly, anecdotally at the recent Service Dealer conference we heard from many who were delighted with recent sales of battery machines - it was cited as an area of genuine growth. And this was backed up when the AEA announced that sales of cordless equipment were up 133% in the first six months of 2016.

Interestingly this increased use and popularity in the products seems to be a worldwide phenomenon. A very interesting article on the American Landscape Management site this week spoke to professional landscapers about whether they felt battery powered machines were on course to overtake petrol ones.

The article cites Husqvarna’s 2016 Green Spaces Survey, which of the 1,579 U.S. consumers surveyed, 65 percent said they would choose a landscaper who uses 'eco-friendly' outdoor power equipment over one who doesn’t. And 75 percent said they would support companies that use 'eco-friendly' outdoor power equipment over those that don’t.

The piece quotes Zach Kline the owner of a professional lawncare contracting company in Rockville, Maryland, who says, “In the beginning, the equipment was more residential and not really commercial grade. Now the equipment’s performance levels and battery life have gone up, while its prices have gone down."

This market of commercial operators seems very much where battery product manufacturers are wanting to target future sales over here. We may see this as an emerging trend in 2017.

And it may not just be garden and professional turfcare where we see batteries taking hold in the future. A report on AgWeb this week talks of the interest sparked from a John Deere video (below) out of France announcing that the company plans to unveil a fully electric, high-power tractor at next February’s Paris International Agribusiness Show.

Company officials say the tractor has “the features and functionality of a classic tractor, while providing the benefits of electricity.” AgWeb point out though the tractor, dubbed the Sustainable Energy Supply for Agricultural Machinery (SESAM), is still strictly in concept phase.

Nonetheless it's an exciting thought that electric power is being considered across all areas of outdoor powered machinery. One would imagine that R&D departments everywhere are experimenting in developing batteries which can power larger and larger machines, for increasingly sustained periods of time.

For a market to flourish there needs to be constant innovation. Not at the expense of traditional products of course - certainly for the time being I don't think anyone is expecting petrol machinery to lose its dominance in the marketplace. But as a viable alternative, cordless machinery is without a doubt going from strength to strength.