Introduction
Hey guys, I’m at the Milwaukee media event with Zafir, and this time we’re talking about the M18 Forge Battery. Zafir, why don’t you give us a quick review of this battery?
Overview of the Red Lithium Forge Battery
Yes, of course. So with Red Lithium Forge, it’s all about delivering the most power, fastest charge, longest life. So we want our customers on the jobsite to know, we want you to know that when you’re out there and you see a Forge battery, know that this is the best battery within Red Lithium. A step up from Red Lithium, a step up from Red Lithium High Output to deliver the most power, fastest charge and longest life. We are now introducing Red Lithium Forge in both M18 and MX fuel. On the M18, we have the Red Lithium Forge XC6O.
Performance and Pricing
This battery is all about providing 12V power in a small size, fast charge, and longest life capacity. So price on 6O? The price on the 6O is $199. And then you’re also coming out with a 12Ah battery? Yes, it’s coming halfway through 2024. 2024, right. Yeah, so it’s coming. The most powerful M18 battery. That would be quite impressive. Yes, it would be huge. And when we start seeing some higher output tools with these batteries, like maybe an STF drill or something like that? Yes, of course. So in fact, a great example of that is our next-generation fuel-efficient half-inch high-torque impact wrench that’s going to get a cut version of the Forge XC6 at launch. When you combine it with a forge, it will give it faster application speeds, more torque, 1,600 foot-pounds of torque.
Charger Technology
So that’s not the only story, though, because the type of charger makes this battery’s sweet spot. Can we walk around and have a quick look at the charger? Yes, let’s look at it. So what we have on supercharging, it’s a very similar story. So we have our standard charger, our fast charger, and then our supercharging technology. So here we have the M18 Dual Bay Supercharger. It will have two bays. This is going to be our most powerful M18 charger to date. And the advantage of this charger with this pack is that you will get 15 minutes of supercharge at 80%. I’m guessing from this bump, there’s a big fan or a couple of fans or something? Yeah, so we actually have our fans pulling air into both bays under the charger.
Features and Compatibility
It actually contains many of our electronics. Yes as we have ChargeAdapt technology that allows this charger to distribute power more efficiently between the two phases. So this charger will benefit all red lithium batteries, not just the port. Red Lithium will charge twice as fast as a standard charger. The high output will charge up to four times faster than a standard charger. So I can use any of my existing batteries with this charger. Absolutely. And the beautiful thing about it is that it’s all backwards compatible, right? So they are unchanged from their 18-volt platform. It’s just a better, more powerful battery. Absolutely. Charger price? And availability? Yes. The charger will also be available in September like the Forge XC60.
Battery Testing
It will be $249 for the charger. And will we see this kit with some of the more in-demand tools as well? Yes, that’s something we’re definitely looking for. We’ll see anywhere we can fit the 6.0 with the Charger. But right now, there are no plans. Right now it’s an accessory. Yes, the device will be bundled with Forge 6.0 later this year. So basically you can sell the battery as a kit with the charger, I guess, right? Absolutely. We want to be able to combine the two technologies together. And use the charger very cool with our existing battery. Yes. Hey, thanks. appreciate it. Ok guys quick power test with the new Ford battery. I’m going to run it first with 12 amp hours, just a regular M18 red lithium battery.
Battery Comparison Test
I’m going to do three pieces of half inch OSP first I’ll do the 12 amp hour, then the forge with the 6 amp hour, ok get the whole battery. Full battery. Here we go. all right. Full battery. Wow wow wow. Wow, so cute. Yes, quite powerful. Yeah, so 12 volt power, you get 30% smaller, 40% lighter. So when you look at these two batteries, 30% smaller, 40% lighter, but delivering the same amount of power. So would you say they are equal in power? Yes. Not half the size, but much smaller. Equal in power and much smaller and much lighter. So when this battery comes out, I forget what you said the price was. $199 for the 460. And what is the current price?
Future Applications
$249 for 12L. I have a smaller battery for less money, but just as much power. Absolutely. Maybe that makes a lot of sense. And not just an advantage over the current generation tools, but also many of the next generation tools that you see here in the pipeline, like the fuel half-inch high-torque impact wrench, more power, faster application speed when you forge and our 5.0 Say the battery. Very cool. Okay, folks, we’re going to do a quick comparison. Tell us how we’re going to do it. Yes, so we have both of our next-generation M18 Fuel half-inch higher torque impact wrenches. Now the kit comes with an XC5 or resistive battery, but there will also be a kit available that comes with a fake 6.0 battery.
Advanced Tool Compatibility
When you pair it with the forged 6.0 it will deliver faster application speeds and more torque, 1,600 foot-pounds of torque. What do you have for battery life on this thing? Yes, really fast. We are at three times. You are also on three bars. Okay fine. Okay, so we’ll just go one, two, three, go and see how it goes, okay? all right. We will keep walking. Ready? One, two, three, go. all right. A little faster. Yes. Master application speed and 1,600 foot-pounds of torque when you combine it with a forge. So, yeah, it’s great. And it’s going to come with a tool now, right? Yes, so there will be a kit with it. We will also be cutting with the XC50 resistance.
Tool-Battery Communication
Because you have to be one. Yes, you are. And that’s probably going to be the price difference. Price difference. Great question, yes. Great. Hey, thank you for showing this demonstration. Absolutely. Absolutely. So one question we were curious about is, does the tool know the Forge battery is on it? Is there any difference? Yes, great question. So with the RedLink intelligence that we’ve built into both our tool and the battery, the tool is able to recognize if it’s red lithium, if it’s high output, if it’s red lithium forge, and it’s Going to scale your power accordingly. So that means more RPMs on tools like drills, more current draw on tools like the Cirxo when you’re cutting through OSB, or in this case, allows it to deliver more torque, more torque and faster speeds. Application speed such as torque on tools.
Robust Construction
So it has the ability to sense and adjust its power. It’s really interesting. So they both communicate with each other and it reads from the battery. Yes. It’s really, really interesting. Absolutely. Cool stuff. Cool technology. One thousand is 10,000. No one tells you what chakras are. And the story is really more than the cycle’s life. Because cycle life, which is telling you how many times I’ve turned the pack on and off the charger, turned the tool on and off. But the cycle life also takes away from the battery. It does. Even if you charge it and pull it, well, for a minute, it takes. Its age is how many rounds it can take. But we also know that on the job site, it’s really important for him to tolerate the environment he’s working in.
Protection and Durability
So that means we need to protect the cell. To protect electronics. So we actually have a more robust pack construction. So things like a fully enclosed cell carrier. We actually do new manufacturing processes like laser welding tabs. And what that means is better vibration resistance, better thermal management. We have aluminum. Especially on such effects. I mean, vibration on a device like this. Absolutely, great example. A tool like this, a tool like a rotary hammer. Yes, the rotary hammer. Yeah so we actually have an aluminum board on this pack. And the reason we wanted a dual board and an aluminum board is that aluminum actually helps with thermal management from the cells. So when you combine the Ford 6-0 with tools you have better thermal management.
Resistant Housing
We have resistant housing. Like MX fuel, it is resistant to oil, grease and solvents, making it more robust. And finally, when you have better pack construction, better resistance, we also have the same patented ingress coating that we talked about on the MX fuel, making it resistant to water, dirt, dust, debris. saves So when you think about all these benefits you’re going to protect the cell, protect the electronics, and ultimately that means you’re going to get better cycle life.
Battery Cell Technology
Is it the battery? This is a cell. One of the batteries? Yeah, so this is one of the five cells that are in the pack and it’s pouch cell technology. So the Red Lithium Forge is both a pouch cell and as you saw in the MX Fuel and coming later in 2024, we’ll have a table bell cylinder cell as part of the Forge coming next year.
Comparison to Cell Phone Batteries
Reminds me of a cell phone battery, right? Yes, very similar. Yes, very similar styles, similar technology. And here it is. One of them comes, right? Yeah yeah. Right inside the pack. So there is a group of them within this pack. Five of them, you said? Five of them. One, two, three, four, and there’s one below. And they slide to the right. This is very, very good. I don’t know if I got the right way or not. There you go. fearsome.
Chemical Resistance
And I see you have some chemicals and stuff here. what’s that? Yeah, so when you’re working in transportation maintenance, you’re working in an industrial environment, all kinds of different things like WD-40, carb cleaner, all these kinds of sprays are used. . And many times people will actually use some of these cleaners and clean the housing or battery with chemicals to remove grease and oil. This can degrade natural plastics over time. And what happens is it didn’t break the pack itself, but now in the vibration, now when you drop the pack, it breaks more. It’s going to break. So with a resistant housing, you’re actually more protected against oils, grease, and solvents that plastic won’t do very well. So it will allow you to resist things like car cleaner, like WD-40, like glass cleaner, be more flexible, and have a longer life for the pack.
Testing for Durability
Interesting I’d imagine too, you’re testing them in the freezer, in the oven, or in the heat, or in the sunlight, and maybe putting it in a tumbler. Yes, we do a lot of tumble testing, drop testing, all kinds of random impact vibration. And that’s where you get to that look and design, right? Yes, of course. So part of how the design is, how we protect the core, everything really comes back to how it’s going to deliver performance, but how does it not sacrifice durability?
IP Rating and Internal Testing
Now, are these still rated, these batteries? Do you have a rating on them? In terms of what kind of IP rating? Yes, there is no longer an IP rating on M18 or MX fuel. We are exploring it. One of the things I would say is that the testing that we do internally actually goes above and beyond the IP rating. Well, that’s smart, I guess. Yes, and we believe that the pack construction that we have, the coating that we have, from an IP standpoint, we have a battery that’s able to resist and repel dirt, dust, debris, water. Is going to happen, when exposed to these environments.
Cycle Life and Cooling
You know, you have a cycle life here. As we talked about earlier, we were talking about the new chargers that have fans. Yes. When you start cooling these batteries before charging them, it will also increase the cycle life. Yes, of course. On all batteries. Yes, on all batteries. Whenever you cool the pack, you get the cells and the electronics to stay cool. This will extend the life of the pack. And it’s not just Ford. This M18, M18 fuel, any battery, my old batteries, they will benefit from this charger. Yes, so there is going to be airflow. So like the MX Fuel Red Lithium Forge, the pack actually has vents built into it, so you get more cooling capacity but the Red Lithium, the higher output, all the air is still going to flow around the pack, and It still is. Cooling will benefit it will still help cool the pack.
Future Developments
Now, you’ll see in the future, we’ll have M18 relative forged batteries like the 12-0 in the future, where we’ll have advantages when we combine that with a dual-base supercharger.
Heat Sinks and Thermal Management
I didn’t see any heat sinking here. I assume there are. They’re just internals, or yes, well, heat sinks. Aluminum plate, maybe? Yes, so the aluminum plate itself acts as a heatsink. So aluminum is a great conductor of heat, and it pulls that heat out of the cells. All these cells are very tightly held there. And the aluminum board allows you to slide the top of the pack in and out. Very cool.
Advancements in Cordless Technology
Really, really interesting technology and a great step forward from Milwaukee to more power, longer runtime, better life cycle on these batteries. And I think as we start to see cordless tools really take off we’re cutting the cord. We don’t even see cords and petrol these days. You are all moving forward. Yes. You need these types of batteries for these types of transfers and to be able to achieve the types of applications we need with runtimes without cords. So, kudos to you guys. This is quite impressive. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to us. Yes, appreciate it thanks Rob.
