This Bosch UK or EU product is not available in the USA.
Bosch has recently announced that they will be coming out with a new higher capacity battery pack for their 12V/10.8V compact cordless power tools. The new battery pack will have a 2.0Ah capacity, which is substantially higher than with Bosch’s current 1.3Ah and 1.5Ah versions. In addition, the new battery packs will provide up to 15% improved torque and performance.
The new batteries will be available in Europe starting in January 2013. Currently there is no ETA for the eventual USA release, but as mentioned in our CORE brushless preview, they’re on the way.
We previously discussed the new 2.0Ah and 4.0Ah battery packs Milwaukee will be offering for their M12 and M18 cordless power tool lines in early 2013. Bosch and a number of other brands will also be releasing – or have already released – 4.0Ah 18V batteries as well.
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But until now Milwaukee was the only brand to have announced new higher capacity batteries to support their compact 12V cordless power tools. We know that other brands are working to bring 2.0Ah and 4.0Ah batteries to market, but few have talked about this in public yet.
It seems to us that the race is on. Will Bosch beat Milwaukee to market? Will Dewalt be on the heels of the winner? And what about Makita, Ridgid, Craftsman, and everyone else?
Every brand that has announced 18V/20V 4.0Ah battery packs has the ability to bring 2.0Ah battery packs to market in either 12V or 18V/20V form factors. It’s not a question of if, but a matter of when.
gold nuggets
Scroll down just beneath the graphic. Bosch shows a small image of 2.0 12V battery
http://www.boschtools.com/Core/Pages/BoschCore.aspx?WT.ac=BT_Home_Mainbanner2_Core_body
Stuart
Yep, and we covered the 2.0Ah batteries in our CORE preview as well.
This was the first official announcement I’ve seen about the batteries and first confirmation that they will deliver a performance boost as well, not just added runtime.
AndrewC
Any idea on what the recharge time will be for these batteries? Will it be longer than the standard 30 minutes for the old 1.3A versions, and would you have to have a different charger. I have never had a problem with the life of the 1.3A batteries. I put together a deck with the 12V impact driver, and since a battery recharge is only 30 minutes I only needed 2 battery packs to do the job. The area were I could see the need for longer battery life is using the oscillating tool- using that as a sander eats up batteries real fast.
Phil
Typically when the battery capacity is raised like this, the time for recharging them increases to match the percentage of capacity increase, along with an extra amount of time to cover inherent inefficiencies of the system. For example, if the battery capacity was doubled, from 1 amp-hour to two, it would take twice as long to charge the higher capacity battery using the same charger. Since there are some losses associated with the recharging process, a couple minutes over the doubling of charging time is expected. There is no need to buy any other charger, though some manufacturers have chargers with differing charge times. Bosch currently has two 18V LiIon chargers, one will take roughly an hour to recharge a fully depleted battery pack, the other only takes 30 minutes. The faster charger not only puts in twice the charging current, but has an internal fan to help keep the battery cool during the charging process. Bosch, along with Milwaukee, Makita, DeWalt and a couple others also have two different differently sized 18 volt packs, often called “slim” and “fat” packs, with the larger ones typically doubled in capacity. The same charger will usually take at least twice as long to charge the bigger pack than it would the smaller one.
Javier
Apparently dewalt already beat everyone to the market for a 18/20v 2.0ah battery pack. I spotted the dcb203 battery pack on ebay a while back and quickly sold out. Sold from china. I will include the link to the listing since you can view completed listings . . . .
LINK
Listing with pics, you decide if its the real thing. Like I said before, it doesn’t feature the fuel gauge like newer dewalt battery packs are sporting.
Stuart
Dewalt hasn’t even officially announced their 4.0Ah battery pack in the USA yet, let alone the 2.0Ah packs being sold direct from China. Once they are announced, expect a couple of weeks if not months before they hit the US market.
Javier
What do you think it is? You think it’s a fake? If it was real I think it would feature the fuel gauge although the pics look pretty convincing
Stuart
I have no idea; it’s impossible to tell if they’re real or fake based on a few photos.
If the battery pack is made in Korea as the images suggest, how are they getting into China for resale before the products are even announced?
Javier
Not sure about that. Your guess is better than mine since you’re the expert. Sure is odd how something like this would pop up for sale on ebay. I was tempted to buy but the shipping times from china are insane and also no battery gauge.