Dan Shapiro

Bosch has released a new battery system for their line of cordless tools. These new batteries have a lifetime that is 50% longer than traditional batteries and includes chargers that charge in just 30 minutes. The secret to the two packs is a combination of new heat rods inside the batteries and a microchip to let the charger know what’s going on inside the pack while charging. Heat is the enemy of any battery pack. As the cells get hotter they litteraly start to cook and burn and can no longer hold a charge. As cordless tools get more and more powerful, this becomes even more of a problem. The heat rods embedded in the battery packs suck the trapped heat from deep inside the battery pack to the outside air keeping the batteries cooler. This keeps the batteries much happier and lets them last much longer.
The microchip inside the battery packs talk to the charger when the pack is inserted. This way the charger can know exactly what the conditions are like inside the battery pack and optimize the charging to get the most life and quikest charge out of the system. At the same time, the charger can let you know how healty your battery packs are so you aren’t supprised at the jobsite with a dead battery pack.
Best of all, Bosch has made these new packs compatible with their existing cordless tools. That’s right, instead of squeezzing you to buy a whole new set of tools to get these advantages you can just replace your existing packs as they wear out. The new chargers will happily handle your old battery packs as well, so you only need one charger durring the switch over. As an added bonus, the new charger will even charge your old batteries faster, so even the old packs will have you back to work sooner.
I’ve gotta give Bosch kudos for offering a new system that upgrades both their old and new tools. It’s great to see a company that doesn’t abandon their existing customers when a new technology comes down the pipe.

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