I find it interesting that you associate electric versions of lawn tools with less maintenance. It's been my experience that when they break, there's not much you can do (I guess that's where the less comes in) - fixing batteries and motors is harder or impossible compared to small engines for me. All of the other maintenance still applies: sharpening blades, replacing edging wire, oiling moving parts, etc.
It's true that when it breaks there's often little you can do, and that is a downside. But gasoline engines do require maintenance, and you do save that effort with electric tools. Really the main effort saved is just refilling the gas though, especially when you forget you're out and end up halfway through the lawn having to go get more. Of course you still need to sharpen blades and change trimmer string and such; I didn't say no maintenance, just less.
