If you talk to your grandfather or even your father who has been in the trades, they will remember the days where plugging in your tool was the only option. Over the last couple of decades, this has changed and we now have cordless tools. Batteries have been introduced and designed for the power tool world. In the beginning, it would power your drill and some other smaller tools. As battery technology has changed, so has the tools that can be powered by batteries. We now are seeing high demand tools that we never thought would lose the power cord, now have lost the cord and are being powered by batteries. Even with the great advancements in the battery tools world, there are still major hurdles and problem with batteries. Well, Bosch is one step closer with the Bosch CORE batteries.
Power Tool Batteries
Everything we do in this world takes energy, wether is gasoline, solar power, air, food for our bodies or batteries for our tools, we need energy. Basically, a battery is just a storage of energy and that’s it. It’s like a gas tank for your power tool.
You may remember in the old days of NiCad and NiMH. The batteries were heavy and didn’t hold a charge for a long time. Then the power tool world changed and moved over to a new type of chemistry with Lithium-Ion batteries. This allowed the power tool manufacturers to tweak amps and power with their tools. These batteries held a charger longer and a manufacturer could get more run time from them. However, there were still issues with these batteries such as Lithium-Ion is volatile and doesn’t like extreme temperatures like cold or hot.
Today companies are racing to see who can make the biggest gas tank for their power tool while lowering the weight, lowering the size and not having to charge a lot for this technology and that brings me to the Bosch CORE Batteries.
Bosch CORE Batteries
If you were to open up a battery pack (please don’t because it’s dangerous), you would see that a pack was made up of a bunch of single cells put together. The individual cells are the key and this is what holds the energy. In the past manufacturers have used a cell which is the traditional 18650. Bosch took it one step further and created higher density and large capacity cell 20700. So what does this mean? Simple, it’s a bigger gas tank. This is one of the most powerful power tool 18V batteries on the planet.
The 20700 are 33% larger than the 18650. This larger increase in cells allows for a larger reaction in the cell. The material that is added acts like a catalyst that optimizes it for larger current draws. The new batteries can draw 1440Watts compared to 800 Watts from the current 6Ah Bosch Batteries.
Bosch CORE Circuitry
Like other Lithium-Ion batteries, these batteries have circuitry in them to protect the cells from overheating. If any of the cells approach a temperature close to 158? F, the circuit reduces the out power and thus creating a smarter tool and battery combination
Couple this with the pack design and you get a longer-running battery that can produce more power and not degrade as quickly as other batteries.
Since they are bigger cells does this mean more heat, a bigger battery, longer charge times?
Here is the beauty of this battery. You would think a bigger cell would cause the battery to be heavier, a bigger footprint and increased charge time, but that’s not the case.
Bosch CORE Batteries Size
Take a look at the footprint of the Bosch CORE battery. As you can see, the battery is actually smaller than a traditional Milwaukee Battery or even a Dewalt battery.
Bosch CORE Batteries Heat
So you would think more power and a smaller size would mean more heat. As we all know that heat kills a battery. However, this isn’t true with the Bosch CORE. Bosch has a cooling pack which they call 2.0. The design of the pack allows air to move into the battery and around the cells to keep these pack cool, even under heavy loads.
Bosch CORE Batteries and Power Tools
So does this new battery mean I have to buy new power tools? No, this battery is backward compatible. However, Bosch is creating a new line of tools that take advantage of this new battery. Since the new battery has more energy and runs cooler, they can create tools to use and pull this energy from the battery more efficiently.
Bosch CORE Batteries Charge Time
This is the interesting part of the Bosch CORE technology. The actual charge time is decreased. Other batteries have to reach a certain temperature before they can start to charge. The batteries have to reach below the thermal shutdown temperature. Since the CORE never reaches this temperature because of the design, it chargers quicker.
The charge time is around 40 to 50 minutes instead of the 50 to 60 minutes on the other batteries.
Bosch CORE Batteries Fuel Gauge
One cool feature you can actually see with your eyes is the new fuel gauge. I love how Bosch now has a 5 LED level indicator. While some use three and most use four, the five is just more precise and love the new gauge.
Bosch CORE Batteries Final Thoughts
Even though this is something you can not see with your eyes, this is a huge breakthrough. Not only will you get more power and longer run times, but you will now be able to run more power tools that would have only been possible with a power cord. Bosch has always been known for their high-quality tools and now couple that with the most powerful battery, well that’s just a win-win. You can check out some of the FAQ regarding the Bosch CORE Batteries at their website.
