Battery or gas: which snow blower for your winter
Battery two-stage machines now clear a wet two-car driveway; what they still cannot do is wait a week between storms. Where you live decides.
Start with your seasonal snowfall, not with the brand. Under about 30 inches a season, almost any single-stage machine clears a paved driveway, and a battery one does it without fuel, a pull cord or fumes in the garage.
Between 30 and 60 inches, the question is the plow berm. A single-stage paddle bounces off packed, refrozen snow at the curb; a two-stage auger chews through it. If the plow comes by before you do, go two-stage, gas or battery.
Above 60 inches, two-stage is the only sensible class, and gas keeps its edge for one reason: it does not need a charge between storms. A battery two-stage with two packs finishes a two-car driveway on one charge, but a lake-effect week can bring three storms before the packs are back to full.
Gravel driveways rule out single-stage machines whatever the snowfall: the paddle throws stones.