With almost every tool being reincarnated into a cordless version, manufacturers are focusing on battery technology to provide increased run times, lighter tools and more power.

Many basic cordless tools such as drill/drivers have been on the market for many years, and the biggest complaints about these tools were that they didn’t hold a charge or they just weren’t as powerful as their corded counterparts. With this in mind, companies conducted extensive user research and used it as a springboard to develop tools that satisfied professional users.

The first cordless drill appeared in 1961, manufactured by the Black & Decker Company. This 4.8-volt drill produced between 10 to 20 watts — hardly enough to complete most remodeling projects.

Almost half a century later, a range of technological advances have allowed cordless tools to gain an increasing share of the tool market. Stocking the shelves is everything from a basic 9.4-volt up to the newest revelation, the 36-volt.

After years of research, manufacturers are providing remodelers with a full range of powerful yet durable cordless power tools.

The Latest Craze
Power tool batteries are made up by taking several lower voltage cells and hooking them together in series. Each cell has the same rating in amp hours (a measure of how much electricity flows through a circuit in one hour with a flow rate of 1 ampere). So an 18-volt tool might have 12 cells at rated at 1.5 volts and 2.4 amp hours (ah), which would produce an 2.4 ah 18-volt battery.

As tool companies continue to develop different cordless products, almost all use one of the following battery technologies: Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cad), Nickel-Metal-Hydride (Ni-MH) and Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) — of which each has its own unique characteristics.

The latest breakthrough in batteries has come in the form of Lithion-Ion technology. Because of the advancements in this category over the past several years, consumers have seen improvements in cell phones, laptops and cameras. “Since Lithium-Ion was made for smaller applications, this technology did not have enough power for tools,” explains Christine Potter, cordless product manager, DeWalt. “We were also concerned with the extra weight of a higher-powered battery.” So, the search for a Li-Ion battery, with more power and less weight, began.