Makita has officially announced their new 18V LXT 4.0Ah Li-ion battery pack, BL1840. It provides up to 33% more runtime compared to their 3.0Ah BL1830 batteries, and fully recharges in 40 minutes.
There is no word yet as to whether Makita’s compact 18V Li-ion batteries or 12V Max batteries will be upgraded as well.
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Pricing information is not yet available.
ETA: Summer 2014
fred
Will these work with older chargers?
Stuart
I don’t see why it wouldn’t.
dave
Yes they do work with the older LXT chargers. I have been running them for a few weeks now here in England.
Larson
And STILL no battery meter, recharge time is great but come on Makita, even Ryobi and Dewalt have power gauges now
Andrew
I own both DeWalt 20V max and Makita 18V LXT tools. To be honest, the battery meter is really of no concern to me, I just use the tools till they slow down or stop anyway to get the most charging cycles out of them. If you’re constantly throwing a Dewalt 20v max 3.0AH battery on the charger when it gets down to 1 bar you’re basically wasting a partial charge.
The newer Makita tools have the meter on the tools anyway, so really, no big deal. The newer impact drivers, hammer drills, grinders and other power eating tools all have the meter on the tool base itself.
Monte
the 4.0 AH batteries will only fit certain newer tools…:
http://www.makitauk.com/lithium-ion-40ah.html
Stuart
Thanks for the added information!
I’ll send a note to Makita to see if they could clarify upon which 18V LXT tools will and won’t be compatible.
William Rayburn
Li-on batteries have no memory and no need to run them down to nothing before recharging. In fact, it is easier on the cells to keep them charged.
My question would be are these the same crappy battery that has a computerized e2p that bricks the battery for any reason it believes that the cells are having a problem. Some Li-on batteries at least give a repair shop the possibility of replacing the bad cell, if there is one. But in Makita’s infinite wisdom it’s better to destroy that option so you have to buy one of their overpriced replacements. Is that still their method of customer service??