An Electric Snow Shovel Can Break Up Snow Without Breaking the Bank—or Your Back

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Overworking yourself while shoveling snow is dangerous. It’s easy to ignore signs of fatigue in the cold, putting you at risk for a back injury or even a heart attack. According to a 2020 study from the American Heart Association, shoveling snow can increase the risk of a cardiac event.

For small homes with shorter walkways and fewer steps, an electric snow shovel puts the snow-moving power of a snowblower in a lighter “shovel-like” form factor. (Honestly, they look more like small rototillers to me.) They can launch the snow on your walk up to 25 feet through the air so you don’t have to bend or lift as you dig out after a storm.

An electric snow shovel may offer a viable alternative to a snowblower for small homes, but they also work well as supplemental tools for clearing out outdoor stairs, walkways, patios, decks, and anywhere else a snowblower may not be able to reach. If that sounds like it could help you out of a blizzard-induced jam this winter, we can steer you toward the best electric snow shovels, and pick out the right one for your home.

Get This Gear Before You Get Snowed In: Best Electric Snowblowers ● Best Snow Shovels ● Best Salt Spreaders

The Best Electric Snow Shovels

• Best Overall: Ego Power+ Multi-Head Snow Shovel Kit

• Best Value: Greenworks 8 Amp 12-Inch Corded Electric Snow Shovel

• Best Battery Life: Greenworks 80V 12-Inch Cordless Electric Snow Shovel

• Best Cordless: Ryobi 40V Cordless Electric Snow Shovel

• Best For Driveways: Earthwise SN74016 Cordless Electric Snow Shovel

What to Consider in an Electric Snow Shovel

Do You Want An Electric Snow Shovel or A Snowblower?

Before selecting an electric snow shovel, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that this whole category of yard machines has some limitations. Most electric snow shovels can only handle snow depths up to 6 inches and lack the power to handle heavier slushy snows. They are ideally reserved for powdery snow on walkways, patios, decks, and maybe a small driveway. If you see heavy snowfalls regularly, or have a large number of driveways and parking spaces to clear, you will want to get a snowblower before you buy an electric snow shovel.

Corded Vs. Cordless

You can find both corded and cordless electric snow shovels, both of which have their advantages and disadvantages.

Corded electric snow shovels plug into a standard three-prong outlet, giving you unlimited runtime… so long as you stay within the range, which will be 100 feet at most without an extension cord. It’s also a pain to drag and orient the cable as you move around.

Cordless electric snow shovels, like all cordless outdoor appliances, work off of a large rechargeable lithium-ion battery. This frees you from being tethered to an outlet, but severely limits the snow shovel's runtime. Most cordless electric snow shovels only last around 30-40 minutes on a single charge. (In most cases, you can buy extra batteries to keep charged and extend your runtime.) Cordless models are also generally more expensive.

When push comes to shove, I recommend looking for a cordless electric snow shovel, rather than a corded one. Having the freedom to move without worrying about a cord makes the whole shoveling/snowblowing process much easier. That said, if you’re on a tight budget or only need to clear a short walk or small patio or deck that’s near an outdoor outlet, you can get by with a corded model.

Clearing Depth and Width

Much like a snowblower, electric snow shovels are rated by how much snow they can move. The wider the shovel, the fewer passes it will take to clear an area. Most electric snow shovels move a 10-16 inch wide path of snow. While a small, narrow shovel will be useful for creating pathways, wider is generally better. You will definitely want a larger model if you plan to completely clear a patio or driveway.

Electric snow shovels can handle snow banks around 4-8 inches high, depending on their clearing depth. Technically, you can remove deeper snowfall with these machines, but you’ll have to make more passes to do so.

Throwing Distance

For an electric snow shovel to be useful, it should be able to propel the snow far enough that it’s off the deck, walkway, or driveway that you’re clearing. Most electric snow shovels launch their snow between 20-30 feet, which is on par with weaker corded snowblowers, but shorter than cordless and gas snowblowers that can throw snow a distance of 40 feet or more. With that in mind, consider the route you plan to take while clearing, and make sure you’re moving the snow somewhere out of the way so it can sit until spring arrives.

Weight

Electric snow shovels process and throw snow like a snowblower, so you won’t need to bend over and scoop up snow like you would with a shovel. However, you should still look for the lightest possible option. While you won’t have to lift and throw snow as you would with a conventional snow shovel, you will have to hold it upright and apply some force to push it through the snow. At the very least, you should look for a shovel that you can lift easily whenever you need to clear steps or multiple levels of patio.

Some electric snow shovels often weigh between 10 and 20 pounds. As you might expect, more powerful shovels that can move more snow and feature large batteries tend to be heavier than smaller, narrower models. Some large electric snow shovels have a set of wheels mounted to the rear of the base, which allows them to stand upright on their own so you can maneuver the machine with minimal lifting.

How We Selected The Best Electric Snow Shovels

To make my choices for the top electric snow shovels, I used my own experience with snow removal machines. I also conducted extensive research to inform my selections, comparing specs and prices and scouring recommendations and feedback gleaned from dozens of customer reviews. When making my final selections, I included snow shovels of various size, weight, and price in an effort to meet a variety of snow removal needs and budgets.

Power+ Multi-Head Electric Snow Shovel Kit

Ego has a reputation for making some of the most powerful cordless yard tools and this electric snow shovel is no exception. With a 4.0Ah battery and brushless motor, it’s capable of clearing a 12-inch wide path through snow piled up to 6 inches high.

It can launch snow up to 25 feet, giving you plenty of lift to move snow off larger areas like decks and small driveways. I also like the anti-stall system on this snow shovel, which helps prevent the intake from clogging while shoveling heavier snow.

Yes, this is one of the priciest electric snow shovels we recommend, but it has year-round utility. The base is compatible with Ego’s Multi-Head attachment system, allowing you to purchase extra heads that turn it into a string trimmer, pole saw, or hedge trimmer, among other things.

8-Amp 12-In. Corded Electric Snow Shovel

Greenworks’ corded electric snow shovel is among the most affordable electric snow removal machines I’ve found. It’s corded and has a fairly narrow 12-inch clearing width, but costs substantially less than most electric snow shovels. It’s also relatively light and compact, making it easier to handle, and throws snow a respectable 20 feet. Its 4-inch max clearing depth limits it to lighter snowfalls, but the Greenworks 8 Amp electric snow shovel is a great budget alternative to the traditional snow shovel.

80V 12-In. Cordless Electric Snow Shovel

If you don’t mind its hefty build, this electric shovel from Greenworks Pro will run longer on a single battery than any other cordless electric snow shovel out there.

With a large 80 volt 2.0Ah battery powering a brushless motor, you’ll get about 45 minutes of run time on a single charge. Clearing a 12-inch path through up to 6 inches of snow, then blowing it 20 feet away, this snow shovel allows you to uncover a lot of ground after a light snowfall.

Just remember that with great power and runtime, comes great weight. With the battery loaded, this machine weighs more than 19 pounds, so moving it around for 45 minutes can turn into a real workout.

40V Cordless Electric Snow Shovel

Ryobi checks all the boxes with this cordless electric snow shovel. Its intake is 12-inches wide and 6 inches high and throws snow up to 25 feet, putting it on par with other models in its class.

It gets about 40 minutes of runtime on a single charge, which leads to it being fairly heavy. Luckily, the design compensates for that with a pair of wheels so you can push it around. Most importantly, it has a very appealing price tag for a cordless model. Put it all together, and there’s a lot of value here.

SN74016 Cordless Electric Snow Shovel

Most electric snow shovels max out with a fairly narrow clearing width and low clearing depth, potentially forcing you to make multiple passes to clear a proper path. The Earthwise SN74016 is an exception. With a broad clearing width of 16 inches and depth of 8 inches, it’s ready to make more usable paths through deeper snow. And since it’s capable of launching snow up to 32 feet away, you can use this machine to clear small driveways along with your walkways, deck, and patio.

On the other hand, this electric snow shovel is quite heavy. It has wheels, though, which make it easier to push and maneuver. It’s a tradeoff, but one that will pay off if you live in an area that routinely gets 6-8 inches of snow in a night.

SN70016 Corded Electric Snow Shovel

If you want the most clearing power possible in an electric snow shovel, Earthwise is your brand. The corded SN70016 can carve a 16-inch wide path through snow up to 8 inches high, which is significantly more than what you can expect from other brands. It’s also significantly more powerful, moving up to 430 pounds of snow per minute. For reference, most of our other picks move around 300 pounds per minute. As a result, it can handle deeper, slushier snow than most electric snow shovels. It also has a longer throwing distance than most corded or cordless electric snow shovels out there.

It’s pretty heavy, weighing in at 16 pounds, but like other heavy models it has a pair of wheels so you can push it most of the time. In short, it offers the best snow removal capability of any machine this side of a snowblower.

Electric Snow Thrower

While electric snow shovels can reduce the effort of clearing snow by taking scooping and lifting out of the equation, using one can still be quite a workout. Many of the most powerful options weigh 15-20 pounds, and you’re expected to hold them up while you carve a path through fresh powder. If that sounds like a problem, take a look at this model from SuperHandy, which should be much easier to handle at just 10 pounds.

Just keep in mind there are some tradeoffs for its lighter design. Its 12-inch wide intake and max snow removal depth of 5 inches are smaller than other electric snow shovels. You’ll also get a smaller battery and shorter runtime–just 15 minutes. Still, if you need a lightweight snow shovel for clearing paths through light snow, you won’t find one that’s easier to handle than this one.

Q+A with Yard Machine Expert Tony Carrick

How do electric snow shovels work?

Electric snow shovels operate similarly to single-stage snow blowers. The shovel end of the machine has an auger that’s powered by an electric motor. As you push the shovel through the snow, the rotating auger collects snow, mashes it up, then propels it through a shoot that throws the snow off to the side

How much snow can an electric snow shovel move?

The average electric snow shovel can churn through about 300 pounds of snow per minute. That means a snow shovel with a 12-inch wide intake and clearing depth of 6 inches can remove about 4 inches of powdery snow from a 1,000 square foot driveway in about 20 minutes.

Just keep in mind that a shovel’s snow clearing ability will vary depending on certain conditions, such as the heft of the snow itself.

Do I still need a snow shovel if I have an electric one?

It’s never a bad idea to have a standard snow shovel around. While the electric snow shovel can reach most spaces that a standard push-behind snowblower can’t, it may not always be able to clear hardened snow or wet slush.

Plus, a manual shovel ensures that you always have the ability to dig out in an emergency, like when you’ve lost power after a snowstorm.

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