Electronic towel dispenser with low power mode

A towel dispenser for dispensing web material from a roll of web material, the towel dispenser comprising:

• a housing comprising a back panel and a front cover and having an internal volume so as to retain at least one roll of web material therein;
• an electronically powered dispensing mechanism, including a drive roller and a drive motor, operated by one or more batteries, contained within the housing for dispensing web material from the roll of web material upon actuation of said dispensing mechanism;
• a tear bar disposed within the housing, the tear bar comprising a tear bar back edge and a tear bar cutting edge;
• a throat rear edge;
• a tear bar actuator coupled to the tear bar and configured to move the tear bar between a tear bar primary position and a tear bar secondary position, wherein in the tear bar primary position the tear bar is configured to engage the web material to sever the web material from the roll of web material during a dispense process and in the tear bar secondary position the tear bar is configured to disengage the web material;
• and
• in response to the one or more batteries dropping to a level insufficient to power the dispensing mechanism, a battery voltage sensor, a control circuitry and the tear bar actuator are configured to cause the tear bar to move from the tear bar primary position to the tear bar secondary position to cause the throat rear edge to engage the web material to sever the web material from the roll of web material during the dispense process.