Hi drew,
That's the exact reason as to why they are discarded, electric mowers aren't trendy anymore unless it's some piece of Ozito rubbish and then that's not really trendy is it ?
I picked up an as new electric 14 inch model 45 simply for the catcher, and then the rest was pulled apart for the bits that cross over to a petrol unit and the rest went to scrap. It's just not worth attempting to convert a electric to petrol when there are so many petrol powered units out there to be had. Maybe in 100 years when we aren't here anymore, then the model 45 might end up being as hard to obtain as an FJ Holden, but until then, in the scrap all the electrics go one by one.
Cheers,
BB