Lithium-ion battery voltage wars, where will it end ?

MowerMike

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  • / Lithium-ion battery voltage wars, where will it end ?
It wasn't all that long ago that 40 volt lithium-ion batteries were king, but now we have tool batteries in 56, 58, 60, 80 and even 82 volt (Snapper/Briggs&Stratton) configurations. Today I was browsing the Home Depot website and came across a blower and string trimmer under the Redback brandname that are powered by 120 volt lithium-ion batteries.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Redback-...rdless-Brushless-Leaf-Blower-106485/301681112

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Redback-120-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-String-Trimmer-106487/301682544

I'm not sure what real benefit there is in doing this other that a bit of marketing oneupmanship, and it does increase the price and weight of the tools.
 
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1 Lucky Texan

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  • / Lithium-ion battery voltage wars, where will it end ?
It wasn't all that long ago that 40 volt lithium-ion batteries were king, but now we have tool batteries in 56, 58, 60, 80 and even 82 volt (Snapper/Briggs&Stratton) configurations. Today I was browsing the Home Depot website and came across a blower and string trimmer under the Redback brandname that are powered by 120 volt lithium-ion batteries.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Redback-...rdless-Brushless-Leaf-Blower-106485/301681112

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Redback-120-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-String-Trimmer-106487/301682544

I'm not sure what real benefit there is in doing this other that a bit of marketting oneupmanship, and it does increase the price and weight of the tools.


good question, not certain the weight 'necessarily' increases a lot but, if you're stuck using typical 18650 (or w'ever) cells - yeah, mass is gonna increase with every bump in voltage no question (there could be a slight decrease in wiring diameter/mass in the tool I guess?), but, there are some prismatic (rectangular) batteries coming out so....maybe the actual battery pack isn't scaling up in weight?

seems to me around 40-60V is almost an ideal physical size, maybe more for a mower, less for hand-held items.

personally, I'd prefer to have batteries sized/engineered such that it would be affordable to have enough that I had a 'bottomless' energy supply. 2 batteries if they can recharge in the runtime they provide, or 3 batteries if it takes longer, etc. the actual voltage, I don't care - as long as it does the job.
 

michigan_Rapter sd

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  • / Lithium-ion battery voltage wars, where will it end ?
when they step down that higher voltage it gives them more amperage for more power. . . .wait till tesla gets into the mower game :)
 

MowerMike

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  • / Lithium-ion battery voltage wars, where will it end ?
good question, not certain the weight 'necessarily' increases a lot but, if you're stuck using typical 18650 (or w'ever) cells - yeah, mass is gonna increase with every bump in voltage no question (there could be a slight decrease in wiring diameter/mass in the tool I guess?), but, there are some prismatic (rectangular) batteries coming out so....maybe the actual battery pack isn't scaling up in weight?

Well, the weight of the Redback blower is listed on the Home Depot website as 10 lbs with their 240 Wh (120v x 2Ah) battery, and my 60v Greenworks blower weighs 9.5 lbs with the 240 Wh battery that came with my mower. My guess is that almost all of that difference in weight is due to the batteries.
 

1 Lucky Texan

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  • / Lithium-ion battery voltage wars, where will it end ?
when they step down that higher voltage it gives them more amperage for more power. . . .wait till tesla gets into the mower game :)

most likely, the motor is designed for the higher voltage.

the battery packs in the bottom of a Tesla also have 18650s. There are over 400 in each pack, I think the car has about 14-16 packs.


18650-battery-rechargeable-li-ion-battery1.jpg
 
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