Makita has started promoting a new high output XGT cordless power tool battery, BL4040F, describing it as “the ultimate power solution for your XGT tools.”
The new XGT High Output battery features a 4Ah charge capacity and is designed to deliver more power and run cooler than their existing 4Ah battery, BL4040.
They add:
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Elevate your workday with the high-output 40V Max 4.0Ah battery – where power, durability, and innovation meet to redefine excellence in tool performance. Get ready to embark on a new level of efficiency and effectiveness that will reshape the way you work.
Will the new Makita High Output battery “reshape the way you work?” Let’s dig deeper.
Makita says that their new BL4040F XGT 4Ah battery delivers a 35% power increase compared to their standard 4Ah battery, BL4040.
According to their specs chart and claims made elsewhere online, the new battery has the same 144 Wh energy capacity as the existing 4Ah battery, but delivers a maximum power output of 2.1 kW, matching the on-paper output of the 5Ah battery.
When tested with an impact driver, the new High Output 4Ah battery lasted up to 39% longer than the standard 4Ah battery.
Impact drivers are not very demanding tools, and the model used in Makita’s test is paired with a smaller 2.5Ah battery in their kits and combo kits.
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Meaning, even though the standard 4Ah battery is not being pushed to its limit, which is also suggested by the matched work speed for all three batteries tested, the High Output battery lasted substantially longer, driving 125 large screws vs 90 for the standard battery.
When powering a wood-cutting circular saw through hardwood at a 50mm (2″) cutting depth, the High Output battery lasted longer an also cut faster. The High Output battery also stayed cooler.
We’re starting to see a pattern here.
When tested with an angle grinder, the High Output battery cut faster, lasted longer, and remained cooler compared to the standard XGT battery.
When tested with a metal cutting saw to cut 12mm (0.47″) steel plate across 100mm (4″), the High Output battery delivered a faster application speed, longer runtime, and also remained cooler.
Makita adds that the standard battery thermal protection kicked in towards the end.
When tested with a chainsaw, the High Output battery had a faster application speed, longer runtime, and also remained cooler. The standard battery overheated here too, and was presumably allowed to cool before making additional cuts until depletion.
There is a small improvement when used with Makita’s XGT cordless vacuum, with just up to 8% longer runtime.
Makita says that their new XGT High Output battery delivers up to 35% more power and operates up to 45% cooler compared to their standard battery.
Both High Output and standard 4Ah batteries can be charged in 45 minutes.
HOW is this achieved?
Advanced electronics within the High Output batteries are designed to have lower internal resistance. This means they can deliver more power with less energy lost as heat.
It looks like Makita is using a new 21700-sized Li-ion cell with lower internal resistance, perhaps similar to the tabless batteries Milwaukee has been talking about using in their next-gen cordless power tool and equipment batteries.
The new battery is now available in overseas markets.
It’s priced higher than the existing standard battery; an Australian retailer has the standard BL4040 4Ah battery priced at $249 AUD, and the new High Output BL4040F 4Ah battery at $299 AUD.
Makita USA has not made any announcements about this new battery, and so there is no indication if or when it might be launching here.
Doug N
Glad to see continued progress in 21700 tech. Tools and Stuff opened up these new batteries and saw Sony/Murata VX40 cells, possibly tabless cells, like Milwaukee announced at the latest pipeline event.
https://youtu.be/btr6vj8OEiY?si=68SrrsC3B5VpUpMX
Eliot Truelove
I saw that review a few weeks ago and it was impressive for sure. If this is Makita dipping their toe in the high outputs it’s a good sign. It would be awesome if they made an F style battery for LXT using some fancy 18650s or something.
Michael F
Tools and Stuff also showed a Makita patent for pouch cells. I think it’s likely LXT will be getting pouch cell batteries eventually with higher output and capacity to maintain compatibility with the X2 tools.
Stuart
I would argue that we’re not likely to see pouch cells for the 18V platform.
Makita’s XGT drill has an anti-kickback feature. Do any of their 18V cordless drills available in the USA have a similar feature? Not that I’ve seen. Why? They need to differentiate between 18V and XGT somehow.
Makita 18V users want batteries with higher charge capacity. Pouch cells will NOT deliver that.
Here are the design priorities. In my opinion, a marketable Makita 18V pouch cell battery would have to:
A) conform with the existing 18V battery form factor or footprint
B) deliver higher power
C) offer higher charge capacity
Given my understanding of cordless power tool batteries and Li-ion pouch cells, you can have A + B, A + C, or B + C. A + B + C is not presently possible.
Basically, more power and higher charge capacity cannot be achieved without an increase in Makita’s 18V battery size. Over the years, they’ve proven unwilling to do this, and only launched 21700-based in the XGT system.
I don’t think pouch cells under 5Ah charge capacity will make sense for Makita’s 18V platform.
harrison
Given the 10 cell minimum for XGT, would it not make sense to move LXT into more of a lightweight/low power /tight access lineup, as a way to differentiate from XGT- While fulfilling their promise to keep LXT alive? Other than increased run times, would LXT tools actually be able to take advantage of higher output packs?
They already went down the ‘Subcompact 18v’ road with the black tools instead of developing their 12v lineup. Only issue is the 1.5 and 2.0Ah packs are pretty anemic, and the 10 cell packs feel too heavy.
Custom pouch cells could deliver a somewhat more powerful compact battery, maybe around 2.5-4Ah without running into the issue of battery width for their 2x tools.
That would be my move, anyways.
Stuart
@harrison
I agree. I also thought 18V LXT could be the value-focused professional line, similar to what SBD tried to do with Porter Cable.
Makita’s 10-cell 18V batteries, such as the 5Ah, are their standard.
Let’s say they can offer a 3.5Ah pouch cell 18V battery. Objectively, I think it’d be great on-paper. Realistically, I think it would be difficult to market.
You never know. Hypothetically, Makita can still bring 21700 battery tech to their 18V line as well.
Michael F
The suggestion that the pouch cell batteries were for LXT was from Tools and Stuff. Personally I have no idea. The patent imagery showed a very compact pouch battery on an even more compact impact driver that had a “Panasonic” style flat nose (or recessed collet, not sure what to call it).
Stuart
It’s good business sense for a large company to apply for a patent on tech they’re exploring.
Patent applications shed light as to what’s possible.
You said:
and I described why that’s not possible.
Same size + higher power output + higher charge capacity is not possible. I am open to being wrong.
They can definitely do that.
But as I mentioned in my comment to Harrison, I think it would be difficult to market.
Maintaining the same battery size would require on-par power output and lower charge capacity.
Shrinking the battery size might result in more power delivery than 5x 18650 cells, but less power delivery and lower charge capacity than 10x 18650 cells.
Consider the Dewalt PowerStack 1.7Ah battery. Makita could certainly match that. But that doesn’t deliver on the “higher capacity” aspect you mentioned before.
Here’s where pouch cells are interesting. They can be designed for high charge capacity and low power delivery, low charge capacity and high power delivery, or balanced power delivery and charge capacity.
That still brings us to a “pick 2 out of 3” scenario, where you can’t have a same-size or smaller battery with higher power and higher delivery.
If Makita launched a compact 18V battery similar to Dewalt’s 1.7A, will their users be happy?
Makita 18V users typically grumble about not having high capacity and longer running batteries. The market for compact batteries seems a lot smaller.
Dewalt pulled it off because they had PowerStack promotions at Home Depot stores, Lowe’s stores, and countless online retailers. I don’t think Makita USA can do the same, at least not right now.
Is Makita USA even going to launched these high output 4Ah batteries here?
I keep waiting for Makita to finally upgrade their 18V platform and launch new pouch cell batteries, but there’s no sign of anything yet.
Scott M
Agree with Harrison’s general points here.
Makita is half-committed to differentiating between LXT and XGT. As you said, they’re currently keeping some tech on XGT like anti-kickback, but they’re clearly still keeping things like impacts in sync (with the LXT’s probably even getting more attention). Overall they seem to be doing a good job with higher demand tools getting XGT priority (track saw, miter saws, dust extraction, etc), and tools that clearly don’t need the power (cutoff tool, etc) going to LXT.
The blower is a good example of a 40v tool that didn’t really need to be 40v, but they probably backtracked on that differentiation to release it on LXT as well. CXT seems to be the ugly duckling, but maybe the JDM is good enough to justify keeping those tools on life support.
I think they’re just in a little bit of an awkward situation because people expect it to be an M12/M18 type setup, where everything is immediately on both platforms, and you can reasonably get most tools on either platform. Going from 12v to 18v can be a pretty big boost in performance on the Milwaukee side, but the 18v to 40v step just isn’t as dramatic, even though there are gains to be had. They’re betting big on the OPE stuff and 80v applications, but that’s a smaller and probably less vocal audience.
As mentioned by others, 21700’s can’t come to LXT unless/until the x2 36v tools get killed. Pouch cells are seemingly doable though. I’m totally fine with 5Ah on LXT, the high demand stuff is x2 anyway, so you’re already ahead of everything bar the 12Ah packs from other brands. I would be thrilled with a small, light, 2-4Ah pouch cell that matches current 18650 performance.
King for a day, and ignoring consumer confusion:
1. XGT fully replaces all of the current LXT x2 tools.
2. Push high-demand tools to XGT and XGTx2
3. LXT becomes a single-battery platform with the death of 36v tools, and can eventually introduce 21700 packs, or pouch cells with legacy footprint. Smaller and lighter, and you can cover the majority of what the 18v range currently offers.
Yes, it’s a 2 battery platform now, but plenty of people do that with M12/M18. The real question is if Makita can stay competitive on price against the TTI/SBD behemoths, and keep their international market share.
Stuart
@Scott M
Makita 18V and XGT are not akin to Milwaukee M12 and M18. With M12, you get smaller size, lower weight, and lower cost.
What’s the difference between a Makita 18V impact driver and an XGT impact driver with 2.5Ah battery? What about track saws? The XGT is smaller as it doesn’t require two batteries to operate. Circular saws? Reciprocating saws? Jig saws?
Makita’s 18V 5Ah battery is built with (10) 18650 Li-ion cells. Their XGT 2.5Ah battery is also built with (10) 18650 Li-ion cells.
Milwaukee’s M18 batteries are built with 5, 10, or 15 cells, and their M12 batteries are built with 3 or 6 cells.
I see this as kind of like Dewalt 20V Max as the premium, higher powered, and better featured line, and Porter Cable 20V Max as the value-oriented line.
I agree with what you’d do if king for a day, with a little deviation. Sunset 18V X2, reidentify 18V as a more value-oriented brand, and push XGT as the single platform solution with premium features, high power, and broadest selection.
The XGT system, once Makita expands it a bit more, makes their own 18V system completely redundant. But they cannot say or do this without abandoning their loyal users. The XGT could eventually have value price point tools as well. They recently launched another impact driver with scaled-back features. The GDT01Z is $224, and the new GDT02Z is $164. If Makita can put together an 18V drill kit with 10-cell battery for $99, an 18V impact driver kit with 10-cell battery for $99, and an 18V 5pc combo kit with 10-cell batteries for $299, why can’t they do the same with XGT, using batteries built with the same 10 Li-ion cells?
I’m guessing they need to wait until there are far more XGT tool users than 18V users, but when will that happen? What steps will they take to gradually do this? Maybe it will take them 10 years to sunset the 18V system? In the meantime, are 18V and XGT users both completely happy?
Makita’s challenge is in making the XGT system attractive, especially to new users, while not upsetting anyone who bought into the 18V platform.
They need to keep 18V afloat until XGT becomes more widely successful in all markets.
The High Output 4Ah battery looks like a great option for XGT users.
Personally, I’d like to see an XGT to 18V adapter, even if only works on most single-battery LXT tools. I think that having the ability to gracefully transition to the XGT system would please a lot of Makita 18V users.
Aaron
I believe you are be correct I wouldn’t don’t that they will have tabless 18650 cells a some point. They just released a 12v ctx high output battery in Japan.
Big Richard
That checks out, 2100 Watts from a 1P 36v pack is about 60A, which is what those cells are supposed to be good for continuous (supposedly they can peak at 80A). I haven’t seen any actual tests of it yet though. I just appreciate that they are providing actual numbers and not ambiguous language like “Power Level 4”.
harrison
Ah yes- 4, my favourite power level.
Actual wattage numbers are awesome to see. Also kudos to Flex for printing it on the side of their packs.
Hopefully this is the end of legacy 18v tools claiming to “deliver 15a Corded power” when they can’t possibly be pushing enough amperage to make 1800w.
MM
I completely agree about wattage numbers, that’s something that ought to be clearly advertised on every battery. Give the Ah capacity and the peak power in watts.
Robert
Stuart, your accurate last sentence took the wind out of the sails. Shame that Makita fans in the USA may not see these batteries.
Douglas
I’ll get excited if they can somehow make a smaller 2.5Ah (or even a 2) battery to make tools like an impact driver less unwieldy. For some of these tools tested…. I’d just use a 5Ah battery to begin with.
Stuart
There’s no feasible technological path to a smaller XGT battery, at least not that I can see. The 2Ah (international) and 2.5Ah (USA and international) batteries, which are the size of 18V 4Ah and 5Ah batteries, are as small as an XGT battery can get.
Even with Li-ion pouch cells, the 36V nominal voltage would require (10) of them (10 x 3.6V = 36V), and that’s going to limit the minimal size possible unless there are significant compromises in charge capacity or power output. I don’t see Makita or tool users being willing to accept such compromises.
Michael F
I think with pouch cells we could see significantly smaller XGT batteries, just maybe not as small as compact 18V batteries. The small Dewalt PowerStack batteries are significantly smaller than the 3/4Ah single stack Dewalt cell batteries. You might be able to see 1.5Ah XGT battery packs that are ~25% smaller?
I’ve also wondered if they could orient the pouches differently. Instead of laying the pouches parallel to the ground plane, consider if they were layered perpendicular to the ground plane front to back. Might it be possible to have a 1.25Ah (~2.5Ah 18V comparable) “compact” XGT battery in that format?
I think the question is: would XGT users be willing to trade roughly 50% capacity for maybe ~25% side reduction? I think for the tools like impact drivers they might be.
Douglas
Yeah. I’d just get 1 or 2 of such a battery for niche smaller tool use.
Stuart
Another question to ask is whether XGT users are interested in a battery that can only be used with the impact driver or select light duty tools and accessories.
If a tool user wants a smaller and lighter solution than an XGT impact with 2.5Ah (18V 5Ah equivalent) battery, there’s always the 12V platform.
ITCD
When XGT launched there were some doomsayers proclaiming the end of the LXT platform. It’s been a bit now and LXT is still out and supported because of course it is, it’s the bread and butter platform and has some advantages that XGT can’t match like with battery pack size but…
I’m still beyond irritated that XGT gets stuff like this while LXT battery tech goes nowhere even as competing brands continue to push the envelope. While LXT is still around, it feels pushed to the side.
Stuart
The XGT 2.5Ah battery is the same size as the 18V 5Ah battery.
Is not having a slimmer battery a deal-breaker for potential XGT users?
In my opinion, the lack of a full range of tools and accessories is XGT’s main limitation. That, and the high pricing.
ITCD
It just feels silly to be a leader in making smaller and smaller impacts that still deliver the power in smaller and tighter confines just to have a huge plastic wart hanging off the bottom of it. Some people also may have a preference for it just for the weight savings too especially if they’re working at height and have to climb ladders all day or something.
But it would also be nice to get a proper High Output battery for LXT which is long overdue and which I’ve heard many people pining for, some packs with 21700 cells or something.
Eliot Truelove
I’m viewing XGT as Lexus and LXT as Toyota. We think they compete, but their complementary. Features that work on Lexus eventually trickle down to Toyota as the tech gets more mainstream and scales of economy make it cheaper to implement
I’d imagine we’ll see something similar with XGT and LXT.
We’ve already seen virtually identical single battery tools come out with the planer, dust blower, jigsaw, and 6 1/2 circular saw. This may be the path going forward: LXT for the ones who don’t need the power or the speed but still want the comfort, XGT for those who want all three and willing to pay for it. The 36v tools are so you can have the middle ground: power, speed, and comfort with the drawback of increased size due to two batteries.
The real amazing thing would be if they came out with an LXTx2 to XGT belt adapter, where you have the 2 batteries on your belt and the dummy pack on the XGT tool. Ideally if you made it with a ConnectX plug then you could utilize all three ranges with one adapter, similar to the PDC01 backpack with 4 batteries (which is awesome btw). While this seems inconvenient to the full cordless crowd, it would get people buying XGT bare tools and get them in their hands, and then for convenience they’ll buy the XGT batteries later. I think given Makita has the oldest 18v line still in use, it made sense not trying to have them backwards compatible and future proof the XGT line. Metabo HPT and DeWalt both have issues with the voltage switching. I think Makita are wise for doing a soft reboot.
ITCD
What I mean was stuff like DeWalt offering pouch cells now or Milwaukee offering H.O. versions of batteries or larger and larger sizes. Makita LXT battery tech feels like it stagnated after 6AH and Star Protection.
Having the option for more power pn tap or longer runtime on the many tools that don’t force a space constraint like the 36V saws do with where their battery is located would still be nice to have.
I personally never saw XGT as being the LXT replacement, though others did. It’s Makitas version of DeWalt 60V or Milwaukee M28/MX FUEL. But why can’t us folks who have LXT that are perfectly serviceable to our needs get some new battery tech too?
peter dobbin
dewalt left makita way behind when they introduced there flexivolt battery system, trades were still able to keep there existing 18v tools but still add a few 54v if required, was a very smart move by dewalt and one that makita missed , they should have done the same when releasing the 40v system, very bad business decision