More Powerful Hilti Nuron Batteries are a Big Deal

Hilti launched 2 new Nuron 22V cordless power tool batteries, and from all the advertised features it looks like they finally got their hands on tabless Li-ion battery cells.

Hilti doesn’t say these Nuron batteries have tabless cells, which is the latest high performance cylindrical Li-ion cell technology, but we know of no other path towards delivering the claims they’re making.

There are two new Hilti Nuron batteries:

• B 22-195 (9Ah)
• B 22-290 (13.5Ah)

Although Hilti has lagged behind numerous competitors in introducing tabless cells – Bosch, Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, and even Ryobi beat them to market – it is notable that they seem to be using 4.5Ah battery cells.

This is how the 6S2P battery, B 22-195, has 9Ah capacity, and the 6S3P battery, B 22-290, is rated with a 13.5Ah capacity.

In addition to delivering higher power and of course longer runtime, the new batteries are said to operate at a lower running temperature.

Hilti also says they charge up to 50% faster, although they don’t explain whether this is with existing or new chargers.

The new Hilti B 22-195 (9Ah) looks to be the same size as the 12-cell B 22-170 battery (8Ah).

The B 22-290 (13.5Ah) looks to be the same size as the 18-cell B 22-255 (12Ah).

It is not clear whether Hilti did anything besides populate existing battery packs with new higher capacity cells.

For example, when Milwaukee introduced M18 FORGE batteries with tabless Li-ion cells, they described the numerous and significant improvements they made to the entire package, such as in cooling and durability. Milwaukee didn’t just take the newest battery cells available from their supplier and pop them into the same battery pack.

The new batteries look identical from the product images, aside from the new model numbers (and approximate watt-hour ratings) molded into the sides.

Hilti has not provided any details about what they mean by “more power.”

Many of their cordless power tool competitors have made specific claims about what users can expect when you upgrade to higher power batteries.

Bosch, for example, detailed the improvements you can expect to see with a cordless rotary hammer, grinder, miter saw, circular saw, and blower.

Makita described performance gains for their impact driver, circular saw, angle grinder, metal cutting saw, chainsaw, and vacuum.

Hilti simply says you get “higher power.”

Apparently these launched in Europe and Asia 3 months ago, and the USA launch should be imminent.

Aside from all the questions I have for Hilti, here’s the big one: when are other brands going to move to 4.5Ah cells? It’s good to see Hilti being a leader instead of a follower.