Bosch announced a new ProCore 18V+ cordless power tool battery that’s engineered with tabless 21700 Li-ion cells.
The new Bosch ProCore 18V+ 8Ah battery is very similar to their existing 8Ah battery, but with upgraded battery cells.
Bosch has strongly hinted that this is just the beginning, and that very soon we might see upgrades across their 18V battery platform, at least with respect their 21700-based cells.
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Bosch has described the new battery as featuring a “revolutionary type of cell” that “delivers far more energy” than their current 21700-based batteries, and that the new battery pack will “redefine the high performance battery.”
The new battery pack is said to deliver the same ~90A max current and ~1500W max power output as the existing 8Ah battery, but can sustain the high power draw for longer.
Tabless Li-ion battery cells feature a new style of anode and cathode arrangement where there are a far greater number of pathways for current to take throughout the cell.
Instead of very few connection points, the entire top and bottom of the battery can serve as the battery’s electrodes.
Basically, power delivery within each cell has been greatly improved. There’s lower voltage drop, leading to more performance, and less loss due to heat, leading to greater efficiency.
Bosch says that the ProCore18V+ battery can deliver up to 71% longer runtime compared to their previous 8Ah battery. Not only that, Bosch says that the new tabless-based battery packs should also deliver longer battery lifetime.
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The greatest gains in maximum power and runtime will come from Bosch’s heaviest duty 18V cordless power tools – the BiTurbo series overseas and Profactor series here in the USA.
The battery will be compatible with Bosch’s entire system of 18V cordless power tools, and is also fully compatible with AmpShare.
The Bosch ProCore18V+ battery was announced in Europe. USA details and availability have not yet been announced.
Jason
Is it fair to say pouch > tabless > tab
Canyondust
One would need to define the requirements of > first.
Stuart
Not necessarily.
Pouch cell batteries require tool brands to partner with battery makers to develop and manufacture custom cells.
Tabless cells maintain the same form factor as older battery tech.
Milwaukee is going with tabless for their upcoming 12Ah battery because it maintains better cooling. But pouch cells seem to be the better choice for their Forge 6Ah.
Dewalt went with 1.7Ah and 5Ah pouch cells, and might go tabless for higher capacity batteries, they didn’t say yet.
Jared
Interesting development – and I’m happy to see Bosch isn’t going to fall behind.
That’s Milwaukee and Bosch going with tablets cells, Flex and Dewalt going with pouch cells. I wonder how it will shake out!
Is there some obvious benefit of one or the other? Maybe in certain contexts – like for compact packs or cooling ability?
Stuart
Milwaukee is going pouch and tabless for different batteries.
Jared
Oops. Must’ve forgot!
Rog
Anytime you want to do *anything*, Makita.
Michael F
Makita has already released an XGT battery with tabless cells. It’s the BL4040F. They did not announce that it’s tabless but YouTube tear downs have shown that it uses a similar cell to the one Milwaukee is using in the upcoming 12.0 Forge battery.
Rog
I was referencing their 18v line
Stuart
They didn’t explicitly say they’re using tabless cells, just that it’s a higher output version of the battery they’re selling in the USA.
https://toolguyd.com/makita-high-output-battery-bl4040f/
Saulac
Honestly want to understand what Makita 18v issue was. If I remembered correctly Stuart had said a few time what Makita had run into a wall with their 18v. They could be not the only one as other brands such as Dewalt had came up with multiples higher voltage lines…but then seem like something happened with battery tech that revised the 18v…probably started with Milwaukee…would it possible or make sense for Makita to refocus back into their 18v line?
Stuart
Makita never explained why. When XGT launched with 18650 and 21700 cell batteries, it was very strongly suggested that 21700 cell batteries were never coming to the 18V line.
Michael F
They’d have to release LXT batteries incompatible with the LXT x2 tools if they moved to 21700 cells since the batteries are wider. It’s unlikely they’d do that unless they discontinued all LXT x2 tools and migrated any high power users to the XGT line – which would take a while. Even then, at that point, why give LXT higher power cells?
Michael F
Maybe the better question is: why wouldn’t Makita consider higher power 18650 cells like Milwaukee is using in their M12 HO battery line for LXT battery refresh?
Scott M
Here’s the (mostly correct) spreadsheet to reference cell specs.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRghl-44o7Nw_GGOGKN8PdnxJtbzF7UR7nYDt3zEPrRL_azznKE1w4QvBJRLxdQnecwIgQ6tuuzQ4bT/pub#
The difference isn’t as dramatic going to the higher output 18650 cells, at best it’s a ~20A to ~25A jump in rating, and then it depends what the tool/BMS is going to give you.
The XGT 4040F isn’t right, but there’s a couple youtube teardowns that grabbed the cell label. It’s 10 VX40 (most likely tabless) cells. AFAIK there’s still no public data for the VX40 from Sony.
Mr B
“ The greatest gains in maximum power and runtime will come from Bosch’s heaviest duty 18V cordless power tools – the BiTurbo series overseas and Profactor series here in the USA.”
This is a bit confusing. My Profactor tools in USA advertise “BiTurbo Technology”.
Stuart
BiTurbo is more used in Europe and Profactor here.
Here, BiTurbo more describes the brushless motor tech, whereas in Europe it’s also used for category branding in the same way as Profactor is used here.
Jay
With this announcement Bosch says they will be the first manufacturer to come out with a 18V tabless cell based battery in the world.
Makita has (as someone mentioned) released a tabless cell based 40V (36V) battery some time ago.
And Milwaukee uses tabless cells in some of their MX line batteries.
As I understand, Bosch primarily pushes this as an improvement in runtime for high demand applications. They say 71% more runtime. Not because it has more kWh, but because it will take longer for it to overheat.
The youtuber Bauforum24 tested the new battery on an angle grinder. It took 156 seconds for the standard 8ah battery to overheat. And it took 312 seconds for the new battery to overheat. This is of course a very high demand application. On some applications with lower draw, there will be no difference at all.
Ken
Great development. I saw the Bosch UK livestream yesterday and was a bit surprised at this announcement because Bosch typically lags behind other companies in terms of rolling out new tech. The livestream guys implied that all of the current tabbed 21700 battery packs (4Ah, 6Ah, 8Ah, 12Ah) will be updated with the new tabless cells.
They also said that the 18V lawnmower will be announced in February. I have to wonder if the timing of this release is related the the availability of the new tabless battery packs. I assume that the lawnmower will benefit quite a bit from the new tabless battery packs because it is likely a high-draw tool and is also used in hot weather.
On that note, I am wondering if Bosch USA has been waiting to announce their 18V outdoor power equipment line until the lawnmower is ready so as to not introduce a half-baked lineup like they did in Europe (trimmers and blower were announced in spring/summer 23).
Nathan
Milwaukee: Marketing blitz with integrated influencer reviews and lots of shiny buzzwords. Releases in all markets at once.
Bosch: Clear explanation of the technology with number demonstrating the advantages. Says they will be released for all markets
Makita: Silently releases the new battery, doesn’t explain it, and doesn’t say if and when everyone will get it.
Michael F
I’m glad I’m not the only one who notices these differences!
Scott M
This probably explains why Amazon ran BOGO sales on the 8Ah batteries – Acme is still running the promo. At Acme it was stacking with the $150 off $500 deal for a while as well. $129 for (2) 8Ah 21700 cell batteries is a screaming deal, was down to ~$90-$110 when the promo code was running.
Bosch has some great products in their lineup, and the entire refreshed 21700 battery lineup is both great and consistently cheap/on promo. $140 for the 18v orbital with (2) 4Ah batteries last spring from Lowes (was even cheaper last winter), and they have been some silly amazon sales as well ($129 for the 740N impact wrench).
Robert Decaprio
Why can’t they make a solid state battery for the drills?