Makita has a new 18VX2 (36V/40V Max equivalent) cordless water kettle (KT360D), which can heat up to 0.8L (~27oz) of water at a time.
It does take a lot of energy – Makita says that the kettle can boil 0.8L of room temperature water when powered with 2x 3.0Ah fully charged 18V batteries, and up 1.7L when powered with 2x 6.0Ah batteries, which means just 1 or 2 full boiling cycles are possible before you have to swap batteries.
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Users will have to be mindful about their battery selection, but 27 ounces of water is still a decent amount for ramen noodle cups, instant coffee, or tea.
The kettle has a stainless steel interior and insulated exterior, to help keep the heated water warmer for longer. The base station has a convenient carry handle, and users are advised against carrying it around with hot water.
Makita already has a cordless coffee maker, now in its second generation. This cordless kettle doesn’t replace that product, it complements it.
Makita’s marketing mainly shows the kettle being used to prep instant noodle soup bowls and instant coffee, and you could of course use it for other types of food and beverages.
The kettle will be available in blue and white.
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Price: $19,800 yen (~$174 USD) for the bare tool
See Also: Makita Coffee Maker via Amazon
Other New Makita Cordless Products:
- New Makita XRM10 Jobsite Radio
- Makita 18V Cordless TV & Radio
- Makita XGT Cordless Track Saw (36V/40V Max) First Look
- New Makita CXT Hammer Drill
Makita Intro Video
Discussion
This seems like an interesting product, although I wonder why Makita doesn’t just come out with a cordless battery-powered generator that can be used to power corded water kettles or compact coffee makers.
You can use it for more than instant noodles or coffee, such as for instant oatmeal.
The kettle seems to require a dedicated pair of batteries, but that’s to be expected.
It’s unclear as to whether this will launch in the USA. In the meantime, you can buy Makita’s coffee maker on Amazon for ~$102 right now (link above). There’s also another option if you want to bring hot food to the jobsite – pack a Thermos.
Thank you to Cody for the heads-up!
Jared
Cool! Not something I need, but I think it is a neat product.
That’s very battery-intensive, but can’t really expect anything different. Probably best off boiling only just as much water as you need. I wonder what the boil-times are like.
Joatman
Although I don’t have any Mikita “anything”, except some bits, But I like how they think outside the box. Their 18v cooler/warmer is really cool, but don’t think it’s landed in the US.
Kingsley
They should make a solar powered one!
Wayne R.
Sun tea in a 2-quart Mason jar? Summertime staple here…
AlexK
I want to love this. So far, I love the idea, but depleting 2 18v batteries on a job site with no electric to recharge them seems risky. I don’t know how many batteries people need, to not worry about running out of juice. I have carried a small butane burner before and for approx. $40 and a couple of butane cans for $6, I don’t need electric or give up my battery juice. Bringing a keurig &/or electric kettle &/or hot plate isn’t that difficult. But it’s soooo cool! And I want their electric bike, wheelbarrow, coffee maker and fan cooled jacket! What else do I want? Besides loving (in a “legal in all 50 states way”) my Milwaukee heated vest, it is the most useful item I’ve gotten, as I’m about to turn 60 and for the last 4 years, I don’t care if it’s cold or damp, I turn on the vest inside the house and 2 minutes later I’m in my car and don’t need no fancy seat warmer or even the car’s heater. and almost all fall, winter and spring I usually only wear a long sleeve wool mix base layer, the vest and an insulated shirt jacket or flannel. This is in the Hudson Valley NY, where winter is mid 20’s to mid 30’s in winter. Soooo, I called up Milwaukee and asked if they would ever make a heated sleeping bag. Those heartless, no camping corporate mother-watch your mouth-non trucker* executives said no. *Shaft reference.
The Irish born tea drinking journeyman I sometimes work for would love this, but I’ll have to ask him if he’d give up 2 batteries for tea. I don’t think so. On a job, circular saw, recip, oscillating, jigsaw, grinder, drills etc. To risk running out of juice for a cuppa? Nah. But, oh so cool.
Joatman
You shouldn’t need a heated sleeping bag at 20 or 30 degrees.
What would be cool though is an attachment for a heated cap….face mask or ear muffs that can be used with my Milwaukee & Dewalt heated jacket and hoodie!!
Aveman21
They have a 12v coffee maker
Stuart
Yes – I did mention this in the post.
This is the second-generation model: https://toolguyd.com/new-makita-cordless-coffee-maker-dcm501z/
Perry
I don’t know about the second gen, but a the Styrofoam “cup o’noodles” containers fit under the first gen coffeemaker. I used mine to make them with coffee & a sandwich on cold winter mornings
Wayne R.
I don’t recall the last time I saw a roach coach, they’ve been replaced by food trucks, I guess – do they visit job sites? Is this thing the next iteration?
Steven B
What’s the difference between a roach coach and a food truck? I thought they were synonyms.
I like the niche product, but how many jobsites have no electricity anywhere? Perhaps my view is skewed because I live in a city, but there’s generally a working outlet within 100 feet of any jobsite I’ve ever seen. I’d assume you want to run this in a clean area away from the action.
What surprises me is how few rugged DC or AC coffee makers there are. I see a market for someone who wants to boil water or make coffee in their truck more so than far away (except campers, but this is too heavy for that).
Anyway, it’s nice to have options. Kudos to Makita.
Jacob
In my opinion a Food Truck is a mini kitchen, with everything needed to cook up a meal. A roach coach just brings pre packaged food and drinks. some of it might be hot, but they don’t actually cook anything on site.
I don't remember
Roach coach is a gross overpriced truck that goes to the local 711 and buys whatever pre packaged food they have and add 500% to the cost.
Food trucks are usually made in the truck itself and is far higher quality, usually.
Wayne R.
Yeah, a roach coach is a mobile 7-11 – but less clean. Though I remember too many times I was dang glad to see one.
TonyT
Out here, in the wilds of Silicon Valley, they’re the same – the Roach Coaches often really do play La Cucaracha, and every single one I’ve seen (or eaten at) has had a hot grill.
Lance
Niche product, for sure. Neat, but niche.
Makita, I’d rather have an 18v heat gun and large capacity 21700 cell battery packs to power it (and all my other Makita tools). Get over whatever internal BS politics you have going on and RELEASE THE 21700 BATTERIES already. You’re not fooling anyone – you already increased the space between battery packs on x2 tools to accommodate.
Dedicated Makita users like me are getting tired of waiting. If I need a cordless heat gun I’ll be shopping your competitors, and once I have their battery systems I’ll be free to buy more of their tools.
DRT42
I second the request for a cordless heat gun from Makita.
WastedP
The high battery draw negates the usefulness of this thing. You’d have to have a charger handy to replenish batteries, so you may as well buy a $20 kettle and use that.
Makita will change the game when they introduce a DC charger that can either run off of electric vehicles, or a solar setup. Especially if they want to appeal to the “instagram overlanders” that the white model in the video seems to be aimed at.
IronWood
Man I really want to like this, but I can’t help thinking that (just like the coffee maker) using existing products is way more practical for way less money. Boiling water takes a lot of power and blasting through big batteries doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. I can’t think of a lot of situations where you wouldn’t have either 110V AC outlets or 12V DC vehicle outlets available during lunches or breaks. Even on a remote jobsite you can plug a $30 travel kettle into your cigarette lighter; I mean the Makita marketing photo shows the kettle in the back of a van!
So this feels like a marketing gimmick to me, not real practical or cost effective, $175 to cook $0.99 Ramen?!?!
Michaelhammer
Finally, comments have been dancing around the price until @ironwood! $175 is stupid expensive. If you want to boil water without electricity, no need to reinvent the wheel. Just look to the backpacker world. Jet Boil is under a hundred bucks and will boil two cups of water in about four minutes at sea level. I can attest it takes a bit longer at 4000 feet.
Koko The Talking Ape
Yep, though the fuel for those backpacking stoves isn’t particularly cheap, and they are also designed to be small and light, not durable and safe. And some work situations can’t allow open flames in the area.
I could see some kind of catalyst-enabled oxidation process, like in those old Zippo hand warmers, that doesn’t produce a flame but still produces heat. In fact I don’t know why they don’t make one. Perhaps it’s too slow.
MM
Completely agreed. What’s wrong with bringing a thermos bottle from home, or using an ordinary electric kettle (AC or DC)? Or any number of fantastic portable camp stoves? If you want coffee slap a percolator on top.
Koko The Talking Ape
Nothing at all.
But if they’re going to make and sell a cordless hot water heater, they could make it more efficient, so it’s a better tool.
Camp stoves might work, but they aren’t particularly robust, and as I said above, the fuel isn’t particularly cheap, and some work situations are unsafe for open flames.
Come to that, I wonder why they didn’t make it an induction heater. The pot and water would become hot but the heater itself would stay cool. But even considering the reduced mass to be heated, it might be less efficient, I don’t know.
Kevin
Stay tuned for the Makita cordless ice machine, coming to a store near you
Koko The Talking Ape
Actually boiling water is incredibly energy-intensive, much more than just heating the water to 212 degrees F. Turning water into vapor requires breaking the bonds between water molecules (which are polar, like little magnets) as well as overcoming pressure (which isn’t huge unless the vessel is deep), and boiling itself carries away heat, so you have to pour more and more energy in.
And you don’t actually need the water to boil. You just need it to be hot, maybe 200 degrees.
So heating water in a sealed, pressure-tight container, like a pressure cooker, would be more efficient. It would let the water get hot without boiling. There are small ones made for camping, when you want to save time and fuel. They should make one for battery-powered setup like this. It would need all the safety valves and such, of course.
Kevin
I don’t think it would be any more efficient in a sealed container. It’s not that the rate of heat exchange changes, rather, the container is under pressure. The boiling point of water just increases when under pressure. Wether the container is sealed or not sealed, you’d be expending the same amount of energy to achieve the same temperatures (heat absorption rate would be constant), all you’re effectively doing is raising the boiling point by allowing pressure to accumulate. Higher pressure increases boiling point, lower pressure decrease it.
Koko The Talking Ape
It would be more efficient in heating water, because less energy would be lost in turning water into gas (a phase change, not a temperature change), and then that hot gas flying away into the air. That’s why it’s easy to heat water to 100 F, but much harder (slower, taking more energy) to heat water from 100 F to 200 F, because as you approach the boiling point, more and more heat is rushing away.
The boiling point does increase under pressure, and AS A RESULT, heating water under pressure is faster.
Kevin
Not necessarily, these individual points are correct but there’s a much bigger picture to consider. The rate of heat absorption remains constant, that is a cold fact (pun absolutely intended). Yes, it is true that heating water to 100°F is easy, but that’s also because that’s only ~30° north of room room temperature. Now, not just exclusive to water, but to reach higher material temperatures, the higher you go, it always takes exponentially more energy. That goes for heating anything via conventional means. Heating something from from 400° to 500° will require more energy than what it took to get it from 300° to 400°. I think what you’re talking about is more related to heating water in a covered put versus an uncovered pot. It’s not so much that the vapor is carrying heat away that slows the warming, rather, by trapping air above the surface, which is a good insulator, it allows the water to heat faster by reducing the rate at which heat is dissipated. Heating it in a sealed vessel has no actual benefits to the rate at which the water os heated. The only apparent change will be the increased boiling point because the contents is under said pressure. Air tight sealed container versus unsealed, the rate of heat absorption will be the same. All I’m saying is there’s no technical benefit for the container to be pressurized. As I said it will only affect the boiling point, it will not change the thermal properties of water at all.
MM
Koko is talking about something different.
If you are simply heating water then the energy required is simply the specific heat of water, which if I recall correctly is about 4200 Joules per gram per degree C.
However if you are boiling water (allowing it to turn to steam) then you ALSO need to expend the heat of vaporization which turns liquid water into gaseous steam. That takes another ~2500 Joules per gram.
Koko The Talking Ape
MM is right, I think you’ve missed the point. Also, I said heating water from 0 to 100, not from room temps.
This isn’t a college physics forum, so I’ll just say again that there absolutely is a techncial benefit for sealing the water vessel, in that water will become hotter faster, especially as it nears 212 F. That’s why they sell pressure cookers for camping. 🙂
Kevin
I’m sorry but that’s simply not correct. I minored in applied physics and can assure you with 100% certainty that pressure will never have any appreciable affect on elevating the temperature of water. I implore you to look into it further. Insulating the vessel will, but allowing positive pressure to accumulate will not. I think you have the wrong idea about pressure cookers though, their purpose is not to heat water more rapidly (because as I stated previously, it’s physically impossible to do that via a pressure cooker). The reason is because pressure cookers increase the boiling point, it allows you to cook things faster, this is because the water can be heated to higher temperatures than at standard atmosphere (29.92 inHg @15°C). Higher boiling point allows the water to get hotter, so cooking occurs faster. The pressure variable doesn’t affect thermal absorption rate at all. All things being equal, if you hat a covered pot of water side by side with one that is pressure sealed, they will absorb heat at the same rate.
Stuart
Everyone makes excellent points.
I was hoping to stay out of it, but I’ll throw in some supporting details:
(For anyone wondering about boiling point and pressure relationship, the phase diagram for water might help clear things up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagram#/media/File:Phase_diagram_of_water_simplified.svg )
For a covered pot vs. uncovered, heat input is going to be the same. Heat losses are going to be different.
Temperature increases for similar systems and conditions will be related to the heat input and thermal losses.
The specific heat of water, or the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a fixed mass of water, is constant. It is NOT temperature dependent. The losses could be variable.
The two controllable factors are: energy input into the system, and energy loss from the system.
Let’s say you have two pots, both heated at the same rate. Forget boiling for now. For one pot of water to be heated to a specific temperature faster than the other, the only thing to control is the heat dissipation. This can be achieved using an insulated vessel and lid to the kettle or pot.
When heating water rapidly, some of the water will be heated above the average temperature – with some losses due to boiling and vapor escape – and some of the water will be cooler than the average.
Instead of sealing up a portable kettle as you would a pressure cooker, better insulation and a slower heating rate will help everything heat more evenly and boiling will be suppressed because the hottest water won’t be too far off from the average temperature.
Increasing the boiling point works in a similar way – boiling is suppressed, which means the input energy contributes to increasing the temperature instead. When pressure is (slowly) released, excess energy is shed via boiling until equilibrium is reached.
Koko The Talking Ape
#Stuart:
Thanks for that (and Kevin.)
So I’m not sure what you’re saying.
I’m proposing that a sealed and pressurized container would allow the water to be heated faster, because less energy would be lost to transitioning to water vapor, and the water vapor being carried off. (So, not just closed, but sealed and pressurized.)
Is that true?
Stuart
Water Vessel 1: Sealed and pressurized saucepan
Water Vessel 2: Typical saucepan
Will water vessel 1 be heated to a set temperature faster than water vessel 2? Yes.
Your reasoning, as I understand it, is this:
Energy input 1 = Energy available for heating water.
Energy input 2 – latent heat of vaporization = Energy available for heating water.
Energy 1>Energy 2 -> the water in Vessel 1 heats up faster.
This is TRUE.
But statements such as “water will become hotter faster, especially as it nears 212 F” don’t accurately describe what’s happening. I think that’s what Kevin is disagreeing with.
Covering a pot of water helps it to boil faster. Are you significantly increasing the pressure inside the system? No – you’re reducing thermal losses.
Thermal losses due to heat escaping can be significant.
Water Vessel 3: Sealed and pressurized saucepan
Water Vessel 4: Insulated and covered saucepan
Depending on the conditions, the sealed and pressurized vessel won’t necessarily heat to the desired temperature faster than the insulated and covered vessel.
For an insulated and covered kettle, where the heating rate is slow and controlled, pressurizing it will NOT necessarily result in an appreciably faster rise in temperature.
What Kevin is saying is that in a pressure cooker, the water and is being heated hotter, and it’s because of this that the food cooks faster.
The concern with a kettle is that heat is being taken out of the system. Heat being taken out of the system via dissipation – loss to the environment – is going to be a significant concern, and one that is completely separate from potential losses due to vaporization.
If you are not raising the temperature of a volume of water above its typical boiling point, is there any benefit to pressurizing the container vs. only insulating and covering it? I would say no.
If I were designing a cordless kettle, I would ensure it’s insulated, covered, and that the heating rate was uniform and not too rapid. If it’s heated too fast, that’s when you’ll get uneven heating and temperature differentials where energy is lost to boiling. If it’s heated too slowly, you will lose more to the environment through dissipation and possibly losses in the heating elements. If everything is insulated and balanced, pressuring the system won’t necessarily provide for meaningful improvements.
For instance, water vapor “being carried off” does lead to energy leaving the system, but a big part of that is because you now have a water-air interface rather than water-steam-air.
Kent Hanson
When the coffee maker first came I was talking to a a rep from our tool store and he said their first shipment sold out in a week from all the tower crane operators in town. So if something doesn’t seem like it makes sense in a regular job site take a second to think about where it would work.
IronWood
Interesting! I was thinking pretty hard about where this would actually be the best solution and coming up blank, but tower cranes kinda make sense. Since they’re electric I still have to think they have power available in the cabs, but I’ve never been in one. A thermos seems like a way more cost effective and simpler solution, but the tower guys can afford it I suppose.
The trainer that did our last mobile crane recert at work used to run tower cranes. He said he always packed a light lunch and a water jug that was “full going up and full coming down.” Didn’t think to ask if he had a coffee maker after that image…
MFC
I want a Flexvolt microwave.
Rx9
I like how Makita makes these weird near tools compatible with their system including that ebike and the coffee maker. That said, it would be nice for power tool makers to start licensing their battery systems to makers of other cordless products. The reason they don’t do it though, is simply to maintain brand image. No matter, there are 3d printed adapters filling that niche unofficially.
Off topic, I managed to successfully navigate a small under-slab plumbing leak this week. I bought a torch and got comfortable with soldering copper pipe. That said, although I had to aquire a new arsenal of plumbing specific tools – not too spendy, around $110 total – a lot of the operation was supported by the tools I already own. My shop vac, SDS, OMT, worklights, utility knives and pry bars all came in handy. That got me thinking about how tools often overlap trades and how expertise in one area can help you navigate in another. The contents of a plumber’s toolbox may not be the same as a carpenter, painter, welder or mechanic (and vice versa) but there are always going to be a few similarities. I realized that my longstanding history as an amateur mechanic has made my forays into home repair much easier. I’m sure there are good arguments toward leaving certain tasks to professionals, but in my experience there is a mental benefit to trying to accomplish something by myself. The more I try to do, the more I learn and become capable of. The more I am capable of, the more confident and unflappable I become. My tool collection isn’t just a collection of consumer objects, it’s a physical record of my growth as a man. Every item represents a solution to a problem, and a lesson learned.
Joellikestools
Yup. I have worked a variety of jobs and they have all led me to being more comfortable working in our house and helping other people. All the tools I have symbolise knowledge and skills I want to pass to my kids.
John
I love that Makita makes all these oddball products, but I’m having a hard time imagining when this would be useful. Using two fully charged batteries just to boil water seems pretty wasteful unless you have a way to recharge those batteries, in which case why not use that power source to boil water? And if there isn’t a power source nearby, that makes the overall cost pretty high – $175 for the kettle, plus a couple hundred for the two batteries (since you can’t use them for anything else), that’s a lot of money.
Nathan
they used to make kits for bolting to engines trays and sealed bits for heating food with your engine. hell some older rolls royces came with a box installed.
anyway while neat a few things come to mind.
1) does it sense if the pot is full or 1/2 etc to modulate power need?
2) I assume it comes in either white or aqua?
3) is there a warm only mode?
I’d be curious how a cheaper corded kettle device would work as plugged into say a Dewalt power station or others. I’d have to think it would work well. and hold more.
TonyT
Maybe Makita should like a version like the electric hot air pots (from Zojirushi, Tiger, etc) that heat water to a boil in an insulated container, and then re-heat it automatically when it gets too cold.
Rob Landrigan
It’s very nifty, battery intensive, but a cool option. Coleman makes a propane powered drip coffeemaker that’s great if you can have a fuel powered item; but thus would be nifty for where flames are bad.
Daniel Dunn
Seems like the ideal use case for solar. For some reason people mostly only like to go camping and do outdoor projects when it’s blazing hot, we could be heating water in vacuum-insulated pots all day with solar, even a portable folding panel could boil a gallon. A bit scary to have hot water long-term in stainless steel because of leaching, but fine for occasional trips.
Adding a USB-C input or two for a panel would make this kind of thing way more useful, although it would involve some planning ahead.