I visited Hitachi Power Tool’s headquarters in Braselton, Georgia last week. Hitachi invited ToolGuyd and several other tool reviewers to learn more about Hitachi Power Tool’s future, and to try out some of their new tools.
Transparency Note: Hitachi covered my airfare, hotel accommodations, and food.
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While I’m still sorting out many of the details, one thing that I’m prepared to talk about is the MultiVolt battery platform they will be introducing to the US this year. Stuart talked about Hitachi’s MultiVolt platform back in October, and it is already available in other parts of the world, but the new batteries and many of the tools will be different from what is available abroad today.
Before we get into the operation of the battery, here’s a teaser list of the 36V tools Hitachi says they will release:
- 36V MV Triple Hammer Impact Driver
- 36V MV Hammer Drill
- 36V MV 7-1/4″ Circular Saw
- 36V MV 1/2″ and 3/4″ Impact Wrenches
- 36V MV 4-1/2″ Angle Grinder
- 36V MV 1-9/16″ SDS Max Rotary Hammer
- 36V MV 10″ Sliding miter Saw
- 36V MV Reciprocating Saw
- 36V MV 10″ Table Saw
MultiVolt Operation
The MultiVolt batteries will be based on 4.0Ah 21700 lithium-ion cells, and not the 2.5Ah 18650s they are currently using for their MultiVolt batteries abroad. This means that they will have a capacity of 8.0Ah when configured for 18V operation, and 4.0Ah when configured for 36V.
Why 21700 Li-ion battery cells? For that 1 mm bump up in diameter, you get 10% more volume than a 20700 cell. And compared to a 18650 cell, a 21700 cell has 47% more volume. While capacity goes up proportionally with area, the ability of the cell to dissipate heat also increases as the cell gets larger. The better the cell can dissipate heat, the more current you can pull out of the cell.
Above, you can see the Samsung 18650 cells inside one of Hitachi’s current 3Ah batteries. We weren’t allowed to take apart any of the new MultiVolt batteries, and they wouldn’t say who the manufacturer was.
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What I’m really excited to talk about is how they switch from 18V to 36V. I find the method less clunky than the Dewalt FlexVolt system, and actually quite elegant.
To remind you, Dewalt FlexVolt batteries use an internal switch that is actuated by the connector on compatible tools or the shipping dongle. Depending on what a FlexVolt battery pack is connected to, its 3 banks of 5 cells are connected in series, parallel, or are totally disconnected, to get around Watt hour limitations for shipping.
With the Hitachi MultiVolt batteries, the two banks of 5 cells aren’t connected inside the battery at all. There are split connectors that bring out each bank of 5 cells to the tool. If you connect an 18V tool to the battery, it simply bridges the split connector and connects the two banks of cells in parallel. If you connect a 36V tool to the battery, the tool has a matching split connector that allows the tool to wire the two banks of 5 cells in series, giving the tool 36V.
I am not certain about the internal wiring configuration of the batteries, but above is one possibility of how the tool might connect the two banks of cells together in series to create 36V.
I would have to assume that if Dewalt can come under 100Wh shipping guidelines by internally disconnecting the banks of cells and calling them separate batteries, the new Hitachi MultiVolt batteries would be also immune because the banks are never internally connected.
The batteries will work with any current Hitachi charger that can charge 18V batteries. The charger simply bridges the contacts and connects the two banks of cells in parallel, making it look like an 18V battery.
The MultiVolt batteries also have the same venting the 18V batteries do, so the charger can draw air through the battery while it’s charging to cool the cells.
You can see how an 18V battery won’t fit on a MultiVolt tool. The batteries use the same rails, but there’s a tab on the MV tool connector that won’t align with the 18V battery. I also like this approach. That way all battery slots on the tools can use the same design, if they wanted to upgrade the electronics in a tool to 36V they could just change the connector without having to retool the mold.
Other Features
They did not tell us the specific weight of the new MultiVolt battery weight, but they gave us this analogy: the difference in weight between the MultiVolt battery and the 18V 6.0Ah battery is about the same as the difference between the 18V 6.0Ah and the compact 18V 3.0Ah battery.
In the above photo you can see the difference in footprint between the 18V and MultiVolt battiers. *note the MultiVolt battery has the incorrect label, the model number will be 36B18 not 36A18 and it will be rated for 4Ah at 36V.
MultiVolt batteries will ship with a built-in battery meter! This is actually a photo of the 2.5Ah MultiVolt battery based on 18650 cells. This isn’t the battery that will be sold in the US. It’s the best photo of the battery meter I had, though.
Unfortunately we were told that 18V batteries won’t be getting a battery meter anytime soon. They are trying to keep the price down so they can sell them at the $30 and $40 price points.
How much is this new battery going to cost? Hitachi has tried to shake up the market by dropping the price of their compact 3.0Ah battery to $40. They talked about that move while we were there. They don’t want battery cost to be an impediment to people trying their tools.
With that in mind, they set the every day retail price of the MultiVolt batteries to $99. You’ll also be able to buy a starter kit with 2 MultiVolt batteries and a UC18YSL3 rapid charger with USB port. You can buy the same charger now for $60, and so presumably the starter kit would be $260 or less.
The MultiVolt platform is due out in September 2018.
What? AC Adapter!?!
I separated this last part out because they did not give us any evidence such an adapter existed. Yes they claimed there would be an AC adapter that you could plug into the 36V tools. They did not give us any more information except say it would be launched with the rest of the platform in September.
First Thoughts
Hitachi didn’t say anything about how they are monitoring the cells in the battery pack, and so I’m just speculating at this point.
One thing that really intrigues me about this new battery voltage switching configuration, is the possibility that they could monitor every cell in the battery. With a 5 cell battery, say their 3.0Ah battery, where all the cells are connected in series, it is trivial for the battery to be able to monitor the voltage in each cell. But in a 10 cell battery, say their 6.0Ah battery, where each cell is connected in parallel to a companion cell, the battery pack can only monitor the combined voltage of the pair (or triplet in the case of a 15 cell battery).
One company I talked to claimed they monitor all the cells in a 10 cell pack, but I never heard back from them when I pointed out that wasn’t possible in their pack.
Does being able to monitor all the cells in a 10 cell pack buy you anything as a consumer? It could give companies better failure data on returned batteries and allow them to improve their battery technology. Or the battery could warn you sooner that it is having a problem with one of the cells so it doesn’t fail on you in the field.
The elephant in the room is the AC adapter for the 36V tools. As they did not have hardware to show us, I remain very skeptical. I will say that with a 36V platform, it might be more possible than with an 18V platform, but I have my doubts it will be small enough to be practical on a tool like a drill.
Some quick back of the envelope calculations: it’s not unheard of to pull 50 Amps in a 18V tool, so the secondary windings of the transformer will have to be 10 gauge to carry 25A. That’s not a small transformer. To save size and weight at the tool, you can’t just throw the transformer at the plug like some AC adapters do, because you’d still need a somewhat unwieldy 10 gauge cord between the tool and the wall.
So we’ll wait and see what tricks Hitachi has up their sleeve with the AC adapter.
The yeti
Very good write up. Battery tech seems to be finally moving forward again. Keep us posted.
A W
Excellent write up! If they can pull off the AC adapter, that’d be a major win for Hitachi.
Forgive the dumb question, but what is the first tool listed, a triple hammer? Is that supposed to say triple hammer impact driver?
Benjamen
No, good question. Keep us honest.
I’ll put in a request to clarify it :>)
Benjamen
And yes, Triple Hammer Impact Driver.
Jason
My Hitachi batteries both have flashing lights on them and will not charge had them under a year are they.still under warranty?
JamieR
Hey Ben, you were in my neck of the woods. Braselton is 20 minutes up the road from where I’m at.
For the multi voltage platform, I wonder if the performance will scale with the battery price? Dewalt will probably always be perceived as a better brand than Hitachi, but if there is only a 10-20% difference in performance between Mulitvolt and Flexvolt, that is some serious price pressure on Dewalt.
Matt
No doubt you’ll always have some of the big names DeWalt/Milwaukee etc to compete with. I will say though, I have a couple family members who mostly buy Hitachi. Older tradesman that you’d probably swear were old school DeWalt guys or something. Nope, HItachi… Been that way for years. I was actually taken back by it when I learned that. HItachi ‘sawzall’s’ are like gold for whatever reason. They are to Hitachi what the jigsaw is to Bosch to these guys. Hitachi cordless drill’s are a thing too.. Like you said though, competition is good. It forces the others to step up their game.
Raoul
Don’t forget Hitachi Air Tools. Roofing nailers are creme de la creme in my book.
Matt
I thought about that yesterday actually after helping my father in law move some furniture. He’s getting ready to put a new roof on the house as it’s starting to get warmer here. ! I was thinking of 2 others actually that are like gold to those guys. Their corded circular saws (though I don’t what models) and their air nailers.. That’s funny you said that!
Both were sitting out in the kitchen ready for work and I was reminded of this post. I saw the Hitachi logo’s and was like ‘oh ya, I forgot about those’.
Joe Smith
The AC adapter is pretty exciting if it happens. Hopefully it will be so popular other manufacturers will eventually have to follow.
John
First, the DeWalt unit has 3 banks of 5 cells (not 2). I think that was a typo somewhere.
Also, what Hitachi is doing isn’t that new. It looks almost identical to what Black and Decker did a couple years ago with their dual volt packs. Yes, that Black and Decker. I think they ended up only releasing them in Europe though.
Benjamen
Thanks, we caught the typo.
Do you mean this battery? https://www.blackanddecker.co.uk/en-gb/products/accessories-and-batteries/batteries-and-chargers/dual-volt-54v-x-15ah-battery/bl1554
Sorry if you are thinking about something else, but the above battery is not like the Multivolt battery at all, it may be closer to a Flexvolt, but something weird is going on.
Stuart and I spent a few minutes this morning trying to figure it out. If you get a better picture the battery says 18V 2.5A and 54V 1.5Ah. We can’t figure out how that math works unless there’s actually 4 banks of 5 cells with the three banks of 54V cells being smaller. Or it’s a mistake.
John
That’s the one. I can’t help with the math, but I’m pretty sure it switches between voltages in a similar manner to the Hitachi.
Eric
I am all for more of these systems. I am a home gamer but before I knew it I ended up with five flexvolt tools (the grinder first, then the entire outdoor line, then the miter saw on cyber Monday). I was able to add a number of powerful tools with massive batteries that interface perfectly with my large inventory of smaller cordless Dewalt tools. I imagine the same will be true with Hitachi users.
Rx9
So, it looks like there are 4 solutions to the 18v power bottleneck being employed right now.
Method 1: dedicated 36v+ systems – this is the oldest and most widely used solution, embraced by at one time or another by almost every major toolmaker, and definitely by any company selling cordless outdoor power equipment. The main problem with this solution is that these batteries are often big, clunky, heavy, expensive. The other problem is that usually only a handful of applications are deployed, which often discourages customer buy-in to the system. These two points are the reason why there are a LOT of failed and orphaned battery systems north of 18v.
Method 2: Push 18v to the limit – this is Milwaukee’s method of choice. By adding big brushless motors and super capacity (9.0ah) batteries, you can expand the envelope of 18v performance to niches formerly held by higher voltage systems. The drawback is that while a big 18v tool can be made a competent performer, it will always be outclassed by reasonably well made higher voltage tool.
Method 3: Double 18v batteries – this has been embraced by Makita, Festool, and soon Dewalt. The advantage is that it uses the ubiquitous 18v batteries. The disadvantage is that two 18v batteries working together present a number of problems, including uneven charge and being even unwieldier than big 36v+ batteries.
Method 4: Variable voltage batteries – this system is the newest approach, favored by Dewalt and Hitachi. It seems to offer the best of both worlds, but also has size and power disadvantages relative to single voltage systems.
Shokunin
Metabo also use a twin 18v system on some of there tools
Rx9
Something I’d really like to add to my post is that a dedicated high voltage battery system (Method 1) really is the best solution in terms of functionality.
In my opinion, the way forward is to go with not a high voltage battery system, but a high voltage battery *standard*.
That is, a battery physical format and set of minimum operating standards used by more than one company/brand.
Much as is the case with computer operating systems, the only way a high voltage battery system can commercially survive is if it has a critical mass of applications.
There are a lot of applications beyond the world of power tools and outdoor power equipment for which a 36v+ cell would work. Small vehicles, automotive starting systems, large drones, communication equipment, r/c hobby applications, portable appliances, audio equipment, medical devices, energy storage banks, etc. – the list is endless.
This is coming some day, because right now power tool manufacturers are in a race to the bottom on battery costs. When the previously ample margins on battery sales get thin enough, there will be a lot of pressure to leave the battery system to a dedicated battery company pushing a widely adopted standard format. This new era, will ironically enough, resemble the corded tool era, with tool manufacturers pushing the competence of their tools rather than the range of applications on a proprietary battery system.
AJ
I like this idea
firefly
I think that day will come though. Beside the race to bottom on pricing, performance and support are still a major concern. If the tool doesn’t perform once it’s connect a third party battery system then which is the problem? We don’t have that problem when a tool is plugged in.
So once we have a major brake through in battery that is mass produced. At a higher voltage system the power delivery will be a lot more reliable. Once that barrier is lifted, and like you said the cost variable, is also lifted because of battery technology breakthrough then we should have a battery standard at a higher voltage.
firefly
Bingo!
Personally I prefer a combination of method 1 (at a higher voltage) and 3, 5 (my method) because I see two primary class of tool. Mobile cordless such as cordless drill and semi stationary cordless tool such as table saw. For the former, I don’t see any advantage of moving up to a higher voltage because for such class of tool 18v is all they ever need. For the semi stationary class of tool it would be nice if it can accept either a higher voltage battery or multiple lower voltage battery. I do like your idea of having a standard battery system at a higher voltage.
That’s why I don’t care much for method 4. However I have to give it to Dewalt for introducing a newer battery platform with perceived backward compatibility. I said perceived because I see little reason why anyone would want to use a flexvolt battery on their existing 20v max tool. So for all practical purposed, the Flexvolt is a brand new battery line… So method 4 isn’t so different than 1. Only that 4 have a higher max voltage. Dewalt could have picked 100v if they wish. So really 4 is mostly 1 at 60v with a marketing twist. A brilliant one I might add. So I do see the FlexVolt live on. I see it as a brand new 60V platform. Dewalt also employ method 3 on their 60v platform on the mitersaw. So I failed to see how the voltage switching bring any practical advantage to the table beside the brilliant marketing plot to get user to buy into their system. Beside that, 60v hit the current sweet spot as far as power and size for a new battery system, it is powerful enough to far outclass what’s possible at 36v. So once user have a taste of what to come they become much more appreciative of the new platform.
So I am not hating on Dewalt 60v system. I just don’t care much for the voltage switching part of it because I see it more of an marketing gimmick than a real practical advantage. I do like the fact that they are the first to mass produce a viable 60v system. So perhaps the marketing ploy work? 🙂
Rx9
A/C adapters used to be an attractive idea, but they have been rendered moot by the combination of cheaper, higher capacity, faster charging batteries.
Joe Smith
I disagree. There are still plenty of times I would like to plug in. Even with a stack of excess batteries.
hangovna
The problem lies with the current capacity of your common wall plug. The largest outlet can carry 20a of current at 120V. That’s 2400 watts max without tripping the breaker. 12 gauge solid core copper is commonly the largest wire in homes able to carry 20 amps. 14ga is used for most home circuits, able to carry 15 amps.
A battery at 18v and 9.0 watt hours lets say can provide 2900 watts of power to the tool. As battery packs increase in capacity and go above 9 watt hours, they will be able to provide even more wattage then that.
Having an extension cord increases resistance the longer it gets, hence needing to upsize the wire gauge to not build up too much heat and melt the cord and/or pop breakers. Batteries have a very short run and can size the conductor properly to carry more current to the tools motor than what AC can provide, using todays infrastructure of building electrical.
This is why DC battery technology is the future.
lethalwp
@hangovna
Maybe in the future, but the actual tools are more 700watts-alike.
The newer & future flexvolt, procore, etc tools are more like 1200-1500 watts. Still far from 2.5KWatts.
The batteries today provides better mobility, but the tools are less powerful than wired versions, just getting closer by the time.
A 18V ‘small’ (single range) 18650 batterie provides around 20 Amps, a 18V dual-range 40Amps.
This changes with 21700 batteries are provides 30amps per layer.
John
The new FlexVolt circular saw is 2400W.
RCWARD
Too Bad they won’t make all of these battery platforms compatible , but that is the stuff of dreams, this is just not a compatible world. Would be nice though, but the tool you like and never have to worry about the battery “platform”
Jerry
I think I prefer this over the DeWalt Flexvolt if for no other reason that it doesn’t rely on a switch.
Raoul
What’s wrong with a switch?
Jim Felt
If Ben’s calculations are in the ballpark I can’t see how any of these sizes AC adapters would be practical let alone anything but unwieldy.
No manufacture is going to want 12 gage let alone 10(!) gage power cords as part of their UL requirements.
Wow. Math looks like the kink in the works.
Thanks Ben. I think. ;-)~
Andrew
I don’t think the calculations are quite right. You can push a lot more amps through a given wire size if it’s not concealed, not encased in insulation, has a higher temperature rating, etc.
Benjamen
I did say back of the envelope…. but I’m going to stick by that 50A discharge rate. After looking at some battery spec sheets I’m seeing 20A Max continuous current for 18650s, so two or three cells in parallel is going to give you that number.
I’m seeing 30A max discharge rate for 21700s which is even higher than I stated…and another good reason to switch to bigger cells.
Of course you’re not pulling that all the time, but it still depends on the tool and they are talking about powering a wide variety of tools with the AC Adapter. I can see a 10″ table the saw pulling that kind of rate for 10-15 seconds which is enough to start some heating in the wires, but maybe not enough to heat it past the 60C standard I was looking.
So maybe 10 gauge was too conservative, maybe they can get by with 12 gauge or even 14 gauge for the secondary winding. That’s still going to be a big transformer.
There are other ways to step down voltage without a transformer, but they are usually pretty messy — you could always clip the top off the 120V waveform and filter the heck out of it.
—
I’d love to hear other people’s estimates of what kind of power they’d need to get out of an AC adapter and ideas of how they’d do it.
glenn
My guess is that rather than a battery replacement plug in transformer, it will be a separate transformer with a mains cable/plug on one end and the other side will have a lead with a battery adaptor that slides onto the tool itself.
What gets me though is why? The whole thing about cordless tools is exactly in the description. Why would I buy a cordless tool to have a lead hanging off it and waste mine and my customers time by having to drag a lead in and plug it in?
If I wanted mains powered tools, I would buy them. But I don’t want them at all, so I do not want to have to pay extra for tools that soak up R&D costs for tech that I do not need.
I would much rather buy a couple of extra batteries.
AJ
I’d be weary of something that isn’t a pure sine wave inverter… Heats up motors and can damage electronics
John
Cordless tools run on DC, not AC.
firefly
I think there are another fairly reasonable way for the voltage adapter to work. Is that they doesn’t need to supply all the power to power the system. Instead it will act like a fast charger for the battery. I think this would work in a lot of cases where the tool isn’t being use continuously
(which is the case for a lot of application). So the power supply doesn’t need to supply all the power it just need to supply enough power to top off the battery between cycle.
Joe
Quite funny….everyone but Dewalt users balked at the Flexvolt system. “What’s the point of 60v ? You can’t use your 18v batteries with the 60v tools? The batteries are so heavy, “ Now hitachi does the same thing and they are brilliant ?…..ridiculous…
Hitachi is a good company ,wish them well…but …no one beats Flexvolt,mitresaw,tablesaw,circ saw,”worm drive saw, I’d say the grinder too (ask AVE,he loves it)….it’s not even close….sds plus,sds max…..more to come….
Benjamen
Can’t people have have a change of heart Joe? :>)
I admit I wasn’t all aboard with FlexVolt when it was first introduced. It was a pretty bold jump for Dewalt to go to 60V when everybody else was thinking x2 or trying to eek more performance out of 20V (18V). But Flexvolt is showing itself to be a tough competitor to beat.
Now that we live in the world of multi-voltage batteries and x2 tools, everybody is going to have to come up with some solution or get left behind.
glenn
It is not 60v…… it is 54v.
And who really cares if brand A or brand B has one or two more torques?
If the tool does the job, is it not good enough? Or does your ego need stroking because your tool has one or more Nm?
Grow the f up man and stop spamming with your DW crap on every forum your on.
firefly
Joe, :)))
I am still don’t care much for the voltage switching part of the Flexvolt. I do think the FlexVolt at 60v is much better than this though.
RWS34
Its not a 1MM increase in diameter, its a 3MM increase, accompanied by a 5MM increase in length . 18650 is 18MM wide by (approximately) 65MM long. 21700 is 21MM wide by 70MM long…that’s how they get their names. And, do you have any updates on when Makita is moving beyond 18650?
Benjamen
>>Why 21700 Li-ion battery cells? For that 1 mm bump up in diameter, you get 10% more volume than a 20700 cell. And compared to a 18650 cell, a 21700 cell has 47% more volume.
No what I said was correct, but thank you for the explanation as I’m sure many people might not understand how the numbers correspond to the size of the cell.
Sorry no info on Makita.
glenn
With the current trend of tool manufacturers shifting to 36v and 54v Milwaukee is going to have to eat a very large slice of humble pie in the near future.
Even more so knowing that their sibling companies AEG and Ryobi have 35v tools in their line up.
So glad I have jumped on the Makita ship while used Milwaukee tools still fetch decent prices on Ebay. That won’t be the case when they are forced to change battery platforms to maintain market share though.
glenn
Typo, meant 36v for AEG and Ryobi.
Nathan
I like the idea to some degree – I think I still like Dewalts better, however hitachi’s method would sidestep any patent/trademark they have.
Since one it doesn’t use a switch and two it isn’t 54V nominal. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t add to it later but still.
It does however close out another method of mulitvolt battery pack – meaning there is probably less likely of another company making a method for their system. So it might well shut the door – or greatly hamper efforts from Bosch or Milwaukee/TTI from making something competitive.
Mark Kalsbeek
If anybody else is looking into this, the patent is really helpful. Its number is JP2021106493A and you can find it on google patents. The drawing for hooking it up in 36V configuration the author of this post made is wrong (don’t ask me how I found out).
Benjamen
Please tell me you didn’t use what I clearly said was speculative without first verifying it?
Mark Kalsbeek
Hahaha I did indeed. Used a little fuse to test it out and blew it.
Mitro
Phew, thanks for the update Mark… and the patent link. I was about to try to test it myself. I’ve yet to read through all the design specs but any idea on how it could be hacked for 36volts?
Mark Kalsbeek
Hey, Mitro!
I just checked out the diagram in the patent. I made myself a plug for it back in February and it’s been holding up for my partners 36V ebike since then.
Here’s broadly how I did it:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z7V4azpCfMWnqsXb8