Metabo North America has announced, via social media, that they will be coming out with a new 18V 4.0Ah compact battery pack.
Described (in Metabo’s words) as the world’s first 18V 4.0Ah battery, the new LiHD battery pack is said to be half the weight and half the size as their existing 10-cell 4.0Ah battery pack, which debuted in 2013.
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ETA: May 2018
There are no other details at this time.
Compare(Current Metabo 18V Batteries via Amazon)
Metabo’s pricing remains to be seen. What I wonder is whether the new battery packs will offer any price-per-amp-hour advantages over existing products.
You can currently buy a 2.0Ah battery for ~$55 via Amazon. So if the new battery is priced lower than $110 or so, it should be a good buy.
Also, with this new next-generation of cordless power tool battery packs, we’re sure to see next-generation tools designed to take advantage of their higher power potential. Stay tuned, this will probably be an even bigger year for new cordless tools.
Milwaukee’s 2018 new tool media event is just over one week away. How many other teasers and new battery tech announcements will we see before then?
Eric says
There really isn’t any higher power potential with these cells. The 20700 and 21700 4000mAh batteries I’ve seen max out at 30amps continuous draw. Which is right in line, and maybe a little lower than the current 18650 batteries that are being used in tool batteries. So longer run times is going to be the main benefit.
Stuart says
The benefit here is that you have 4.0Ah charge capacity in a more compact package.
For 18650 for factor, I’ve seen 2.0Ah battery cells with ~25A rating, 2.5Ah with maybe 22A rating (if I recall correctly), and 3.0Ah cells with maybe 15A rating.
20700 or 21700 cells at 4Ah and rated to 30A continuous current do offer greater potential power than is possible with the same number of 18650 cells.
Philip says
Don’t forget about heat disadvantages of 18650… Both de powering and charging! Direct drive drills don’t need anymore power… Bigger hi demand drills and or most tools can be geared for more torque. Torque is not eveything thing… Max watts out put is!
TZi says
Hope other companies follow their lead with new compact sized batteries. That 4Ah looks about as small in size as their 2Ah pack. I find myself constantly swapping 2Ah batteries because I really don’t like how bulky the 4+ Ah batteries always are. I know some people love features like Flexvolt batteries being backwards compatible with their 20v tools, but I found that I really never use mine with 20v tools unless every compact battery is drained and I don’t have a charger on me.
Philip says
I know what’s wrong here… You don’t have enough 60v tools? I find I use both quite a bit. But I do heavy and light duty!