Kress, a Positec brand, seems very convinced that they are about to change the professional landscaping industry with their 60V Max CyberSystem cordless outdoor power tool system.
There’s actually 3 parts to the CyberSystem line – the Kres Commercial cordless power tools, 2 sizes of CyberPack batteries, and CyberTank portable power station.
The Kress 60V CyberSystem looks to feature tools specifically tailored to the needs of professional landscapers and other such users.
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Kress has a separate 60V Max system that could potentially be compatible with the same batteries. Looking at Kress’s CyberTank product manual, all 3 charging ports can recharge 60V or CyberPack 60V batteries.
The CyberPack batteries connect to the cordless power tools, and the CyberTank serves as a charging source. Essentially, the CyberTank is a very large battery with sophisticated controls and fast charging.
How fast?
The Kress CyberTank can charge a CyberPack 4Ah battery in just 8 minutes. Not only that, it can also recharge the CyberPack 11Ah battery in just 8 minutes.
What if you cannot get to the CyberTank? Kress also offers a 30A dual port charger. The Kress charger cannot recharge the CyberPacks as fast as the CyberTank can.
The Kress CyberTank is designed to be mounted to your trailer.
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This seems fairly straightforward.
The idea is that the contract uses their Kress CyberSystem tools, pops a depleted battery into the CyberTank for charging, and then 8 minutes later the battery is fully charged and ready for use.
There are two CyberTank sizes – a 5 kWh unit, and one with 7.2 kWh capacity.
The 4Ah and 11Ah batteries have 240 Wh and 660 Wh charge capacities, respectively.
Kress launched an app, with features such as tool tracking, battery status, maintenance reminders, and more.
The 8-minute charging claim is made with the CyberTank operating in booster mode. Otherwise, the standard charging rate is 14 minutes for one or two batteries in any combination.
I couldn’t find any details about how long Kress’s other 60V battery will take to charge via CyberTank.
The charging times are up to 4 hours for 5 kWh model, and 7 hours for the 7.2 Whr. The CyberTank must be plugged into 100-240V AC and draws up to 15A current max, or 1800W.
It’s worth noting that the CyberTank is described as having a rated voltage of 48V, with battery capacities of 105Ah (5040 Wh) and 150Ah (7200 Wh).
The battery has LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) chemistry.
I think that this is the direction the battery-powered landscaping industry will be going in, where you have battery-powered tools and a large battery bank to recharge everything with.
Dewalt has a similar idea with their as of yet to be released Ascent series and PowerEquip batteries.
From what I have seen, professional landscapers have been incredibly slow to adapt to cordless outdoor power tools, simply because gas remains more convenient.
Will systems like Kress’s change that?
There’s not a lot of information out there yet, but Kress’s product and PR teams have made it clear they are ready and able to answer any questions you or I might have.
So – what do you think? Is this the solution to finally put at end to gas engine outdoor power tools?
Frank D
No, because the cost is going to be way up there and now you have that tank to worry about too. The problem with electric OPE is the extended run time you need per job at hand to complete various parts of a job. Small jobs only 10-20 each, but enough to deplete a battery. And then it goes up to 30 45 60 120 min needed. I can run some of my gas equipment up to two hours before I run out of gas, without worrying about heat, battery depletion, repeated charging several times per day and the total life cycle … where the batteries and/or tank need replacing.
That’s not to say that I don’t wish we all had electric outdoor equipment. I have a fair bit, but it is all rather light to medium duty … and for the real jobs on six acres with mixed use and vegetation, gas rules … as much as I hate the noise, fumes and maintenance.
Brad
At some point electric could disrupt gas OPE for commercial users, and I hope it’s much sooner than later.
Without seeing usage and charge times for this equipment, I’m reserving judgment and just crossing my fingers. Two-cycle gas motors are a blight in so many ways.
eddie sky
I’m watching this landscape (pun!) on EV lawn equipment. I’ve planned a second career in property management and all EV (well, except the truck, that will have to be diesel) with a trailer that charges the packs. The commercial mowers out there, so far, are going either proprietary charging (non-removable) or packs. And some claiming 8 hours (must be perfectly flat golf course test beds because I do much reversing and inclines/declines).
But the big problem is cost aka ROI. Only large fleet land management companies can afford (to deprecate) $30K mower systems. I want my ROI fast, and making profit…which having gas mowers now, paid for, does.
Yet, the appeal from some of my customers, are they will pay a bit more for less noise and being “green”.
(the cost of a solar-charging twin axle trailer is about double a none charging setup. YMMV).
S
Definitely going to be curious on people paying more for greener service.
Many might say it, but I’m curious how many will do it. Landscaping has typically been a cutthroat business with yearly contracts awarded over $5/mo discounts on services, irregardless of quality
Bonnie
There’s also a wave of communities outright banning gas-powered OPE or it breaking noise ordinances to consider. Depending on where you are that gas mower might be banned before it breaks down.
Peter Unlustig
A job 10—20 min depletes your batteries?
What brand, tools and battery sizes are you using or referring to?
MFC
I love cordless, and have tried to make cordless OPE work. I had a ryobi 48″ battery zero turn, four dewalt 2x20v push mowers, two 60v Dewalt Weed-eaters, one m18 chainsaw, three 60v chainsaws and one 20v and one 60v blower.
The Ryobi zero turn didn’t have enough power to handle the voracious coastal grass that grows during the rainy season here. It handled great and was a delight to use, but struggled in the super fast growing grass. I now have an Ariens IKON 52″ ZT and it does just fine although gas is such a pain…
My Dewalt push mowers were a joke and kept dying. All under warranty, but still. I gave up and bought gas push mowers that were a fraction of the price of the DeWalt.
My Dewalt weedeaters eat batteries for breakfast and one just burnt up that I’ve been using occasionally for about a year. It let out the magic smoke after using it for about 45 mins straight (and going through six flexvolt batteries within that time). The other one is the updated version and it has medium strength, but it also eats batteries like they’re breath mints. When this one dies I will get a gas trimmer.
My Dewalt chainsaws work well and are a pleasure to use, but, again, you have to have a lot of batteries. I typically am only cutting up individual fallen trees, or doing some trimming, but 15 minutes of work will have a 9ah battery begging for relief. Since I don’t use a chainsaw often, I will continue to enjoy the ease of startup with a cordless chainsaw.
My blower is powerful enough for me and I don’t care that it eats batteries. Again, I don’t use it to clear a walmart parking lot, I’m just clearing the jobsite and I’ll grab a few extra batteries and full-throttle my way through all of them. Each battery lasts about 10 minutes.
Basically, they’re too weak and they demand too much fuel to be used in an actual business setting. If they do make OPE that is strong enough to handle heavy work and super fast recharging, then it could work, but I haven’t seen any of my cordless tools handle repetitive (hours on end) use and survive longer than a year. The electronics can’t dissipate heat fast enough.
Prove me wrong Kress.
Adam
Ego also released a larger battery that chargers their 56v smaller batteries.
Obviously different cell technology in the bank, but I still have in the back of my mind the thought of needing twice as many amp hours (if not more due to loss in charging), to accomplish the same goal as having twice as many batteries for the tool &/or more efficient AC charging.
I recognize there are times it isn’t feasible to charge, but it seems a lawn crew that was utilizing battery OPE, would make customers aware they may be plugging in while working on their property.
Brendan Larrabee
Do you have a link to this? I can’t seem to find it.
Big Richard
They showcased it at EquipExpo yesterday, not sure if there is any official press release on it. They talk about it at the 21:00 mark in this vid though – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyvDOxbW9Ag&t=1892s
Champs
Fossil fuels aren’t getting cheaper. If an alternative is genuinely competitive it’s going to emerge, and people will take advantage when it makes sense for them. It’s not overnight.
Remember when every contractor drove an Econoline?
George
A leaf blower for the person who looks at an Ego and says, “Nice, but could it look a little more like the Javelin from my GROPO days?”
NoDak Farming
I’m not in the landscaping or lawn care business. So I’m not a potential customer of Kress’s products. But it’s great to see a manufacturer advancing technology and new concepts like this. If nothing else, it pushes the competitiveness from other companies. And maybe some of the technology will be adaptable in other fields. I’d like to eventually see some options for electric atv’s (maybe with large swappable batteries). And some competition to Polaris’s electric side-by-side.
Even though I’m not in Kress’s target audience, I do own two Ego tools. I was so impressed with the used trimmer I bought, that I followed up by buying one of their latest electric chainsaws. And I have my eye on one of their leaf blowers. It’s good stuff and I’m glad I bought into a system with robust oversized batteries. Hopefully they keep expanding their lineup.
Chuck+Forster
Ego blower is the tool that’s changed how I do yard work. Dispersing clippings instead of bagging, rounding up leaves, clearing patios and garage floor dust. And I use it for more than just the yard too, drying cars, clearing the trunk, clearing camp sites, dusting off the camp stove in the morning. The lack of fumes invites you to use it for so much more. I’d be hard pressed to part with any high performance battery blower at this point.
its_jake
when replacing my toilet, i used my makita blower and a thoughtfully placed wet rag to evacuate water from the bend. could have gone left real quick but no poop water on my face. I think that’s my favorite off-label use so far
Bonnie
Absolutely. I picked up a relatively cheap corded blower as I don’t particularly care about leaves on the far side of the yard, but it’s constantly useful for clearing out the shop, etc.
Tim
The 7.2kw battery to charge batteries is almost $14,000.
I do not see this being adapted rapidly.
Golf course crews don’t spend that in gas, mowing every day for a year.
jec6613
That was also my thought. Dewalt already tried this with 40V, though just having a six pack charger instead of whatever massive battery this has, and optimizing for decent runtime, and at a fraction of the cost. Still didn’t work out.
I am at least pleased to see some LiFePO4 batteries though, they make far superior tool batteries if you can get over the 30% weight penalty.
Stuart
That’s for the power banks and not necessarily the power tool batteries, which I presume must have traditional power tool battery cells.
Norse
What I am still seeing are products that are capable on a moderate size consumer level at prices that only make sense if they were capable at a commercial level. I own Dewalt’s 60v axial blower and the 20” chainsaw. Both are great for occasional use. Neither will hold a candle to similarly sized gas powered equipment. The biggest and best cordless chainsaws can run with a 50 cc homeowner gas saw. That is pretty amazing, but the cost to outfit that saw to run even part of a day starts to climb into the thousands with multiple batteries and chargers. And then, it barely keeps up with a $300 gas powered saw and less than $20 in gas and 2stroke oil. Don’t get me wrong, electric has its place. It is quieter and produces less emissions. It also is ready to go with the pull of a trigger. That is why I have the blower and bigger saw from Dewalt. I can run them on a whim and indoors, if I need to.
KMR
Timely post. I’ve been considering a Kress RTKn robo-mower or a Husqvarna EPOS robo-mower. I spend about 2 hours every 5 days for 7 months mowing with a 48″ JD X320 and this year in particular my outdoor allergies have been particularly irritable. Both Kress’ and Husqvarna robo mowers can be bought in capacities that handle multiple acres, Kress’ top unit does 9 acres! I need to cover 2 acres of cut grass. Price wise both of these units are on-par with a mid-grade zero turn (~$5500-6000 for the size that covers my use), but with the added benefit for the homeowner of not having to do any of the work.
I’m just leery of making the jump to a robo-mower so early in this product sector’s evolution. We’ve had four different robo-vacs in the house, and the most recent one is the best. Two of the four failed for technical reasons after around 20-24 months of use. So I will probably make the jump to a robo-mower once there is a bit more maturity in the products of this segment.
But overall, I’m a proponent of battery OPE at the consumer level. There should be an outright ban on consumer 2-stroke OPE. I’ve had my Greenworks/Kobalt 80V OPE since 2016 and have minimal complaints and all of the original batteries have held up great (no failures, no noticeable degradation in capacity). The weed trimmer, when fitted with a trimmer head, can handle all of the trimming duty on my property on a single battery charge. In fact, it is more likely I run out of trimmer line first than battery charge. And when I fit the interchangeable brush cutting head, I’m amazed at the battery life, it will run all morning until lunch (~3+ hours) on a single battery charge as I’m cutting down dense brush that grows along the entire length of one of our property lines. The cordless blower does blow through batteries, I may get ~15 minutes of use from a charge, but it only takes minutes to blow the driveways clear of clippings and leaves. For leaf pickup I pull a leaf collector behind the JD X320.
Bob
Why ban gas consumer OPE? Why force a product type on anyone? If electric is truly better the free market economy will take over and gas equipment will go the way of hose and buggies.
Philip John
This performance is really good. Any info about if this is solid state or not. If not . How is it so fast. Thx
MM
I see this as a half-step in the right direction. There absolutely is a need to be able to fast-charge higher power OPE, but this doesn’t really help the fundamental bottleneck, which is the 15A wall outlet. That is ultimately what limits how much cordless OPE you can operate in a day–whatever you can charge the previous night. This lets you fast-charge smaller batteries from a larger one, but it doesn’t change the number of watts you can charge per day, you still have to charge it from a wall outlet. And that’s the real issue. Now what would help things would be if this charger were hardwired into the vehicle, equipped with an extra-large alternator, then you could actually put more watts into your batteries per day by using engine power.
The other, unrelated, thing that needs to happen to make high power OPE practical is the introduction of high speed chargers, similar to those for EVs, which would need to run on a 220V circuit.
Bonnie
A standard 15amp EV charger can be up to 1.65kW (though typically more around 1.4kW). That’s the large one of these tanks in under 6 hours. If you’re working out of a depot there’s going to be no problem keeping a rack of these tanks topped up. Even someone working out of their garage can easily recharge a tank or two overnight.
MM
I wasn’t speaking about this item specifically, I was speaking broadly about the future of commercial cordless OPE. If someone is running a 25kw (or more) commercial mower for 8 hours in a day that amount of power cannot be replenished overnight by a single wall socket.
Wayne R.
I always come back to the idea that we all just need a lot less grass.
I get it that the feudal lords all needed a clear line-of-sight to avoid combat surprises, but we’re past that, right?
Bonnie
Absolutely. The standard American lawn is a massive waste of resources and a bit of an eyesore. Better landscaping (more trees, shrubs, garden, and better groundcovers) is far more appealing to me. Though even a normal grass lawn tends to be heavily over-worked by a lot of people. Even in lush regions lawns do not need to be mowed nearly as often as people seem to have been conditioned to.
James
One of my favourite comments. Ever. Anywhere.
Says the guy with a suburban front and back lawn pristinely trimmed. Limited combat surprises so far.
(EGO mower – amazing. Milwaukee trimmer and blower – no complaints).
Bob
In an ever increasing violent world, that early warning afforded by grass might allow the landed gentry to deploy one’s heavy mounted cavalry earlier. It might be the difference between life and death…or plant trees and buy a gun haha.
All kidding aside a study at UC Davis concluded grass was a better co2 sink than forests. However, with the state of academic research being a pay for conclusion racket these days you can get some very prestigious institutions to “conclude” just about anything if you award enough grant money. So trees might be better, grass might be better or it depends might be true as well
I think most will agree a well managed landscape with improved cultivars and a balanced turf fertility program is a good idea for the environment, your wallet and your enjoyment.
Jason
This looks really cool for crews that drive from business to business or house to house. Charge your tank overnight and then your batteries on the drive between clients.
The toughest to solve IMO is golf course, communities, etc. especially in areas like Florida where one person is running a string trimmer for 4 hours, lunch, then 4 more (backpack blower, hedge trimmer, etc.)
Also: seems like Equip Expo has been getting bigger and bigger, any plans to attend??
Hon Cho
Without a doubt, electric OPE is the future whether we like it or not. Right now, the up front cost is a lot more expensive with the need for multiple batteries and charging systems to accommodate anything other than light duty use. I’ve got some DeWalt flexvolt OPE that works fine but run times are short and extra batteries are expensive. I plan to buy new gas powered blower, string trimmer and chainsaw in the near future. With luck those will carry me out for another ten years or so and maybe by then the electric future will be more capable or I’ll have hired a service to do my yardwork.
Hon Cho
Took a moment to look up the Kress parent company, Positec. Positec is a Chinese company that owns the Rockwell and Worx brands along with Kress, which originally was a German brand. The Kress website lists a lot of typical cordless power tools as products, but I could not find any retailers for the non-OPE tools in the USA. Whether OPE or general power tools, I’d say Positec and Kress have a serious uphill climb in the U.S. marketplace against better known competition.
OldDominionDIYer
I think there’s a lot of hype and hope but very little of it delivers the product most need to make the transition. That’s not to say we won’t eventually get there, perhaps we will but I have my doubts it will be with the current battery tech. That’s just the fact of the matter. for average everyday homeowners doing there own lawn care the battery powered OPE available today should meet most of their needs. Pros are going to have to wait for the next big thing I’m afraid.
Philip
So it’s lithium iron phosphate… Cars made the switch … so why haven’t tools like dewalt and Milwaukee made the switch also?
Stuart
Because it’s not tailored towards high power delivery.
How many cells go into a car battery? How many are in cordless power tool battery packs?
Stan_Dupp
I for one am holding out for Milwaukee NewClear cogen, I can mow ,have a piping hot cup of tea and power wash paver patios all with one small pack out unit, way better than the solar umbrella in my current ztr
kent_skinner
Their marketing people have terrible naming skills.
“CyberPack” Seriously? These are honestly the worst, most cringy names in the tool industry. Congratulations?
I’m not familiar with the brand, and the nearest dealer is more than 2 hours from me.
I’m all in favor or getting rid of gas powered equipment when there’s a solid alternative, but I’m guesing that this isn’t it.
Saulac
What would it take to enable charging the tank via vehicle power? Such that typical daily driving time is sufficient to charge typical usage. Would be a lot more convenient if don’t have to plug in at the end of the day.
frederick
Personally I have solar panels and a lifepo4 batteries in my work trucks. I charge almost all my tool systems off this. Ego is a little annoying because they don’t have a dc/dc charger so I have to use an inverter to power a 120v charger for them. My system is universal and not dependant on any particular brand. I’m sure it costs less than these other systems too.
Ct451
I don’t see how one power-bank is better than tool batteries of the same capacity. Whats’s the point of going from battery power to battery power if you are going to use all of it in a tool at the end.
Al
Reduces the temptation to run a gas generator or truck with big alternator to keep charging little batteries while on-site.
There is a use for giant battery systems to replace gas generators in construction where noise is a problem to the customer, neighbors, or authority having jurisdiction.
Think JCB Powerpack.
Stuart
Power bank = 7200 Wh
60V x 4Ah charge capacity = 240 Wh
Ignoring losses, it’s the equivalent of (30) 60V x 4Ah batteries, but with the convenience of not having to figure out how to recharge 30 batteries at the end of the day.
Or, compared to the 11Ah 660Wh batteries, that’s nearly 11 batteries, which would still be a hassle to recharge at the end of every day.
Ct451
I think a dozen batteries is more convenient. Get a big-to-small charger and a couple of small batteries and you’re set.
The bank is a hassle to move and it’s an additional point of failure.
Also, if you get 1000 charging cycles from your tool batteries before failure and you only have 2 of those; that’s 2000 cycles. If you have 12 that’s 12000 cycles.
You can also scale up gradually. Not in 7.2kwh jumps.
Marc-n-Moose
As long as all the batteries are OEM only, it’s going to be tough to convince me that all of these battery powered movers, tools & cars aren’t disposable. And designed that way.
Norse
I agree. I look at any cordless power tool as disposable. Battery systems evolve, technology improves, on to the next. My kids will likely inherit my gas powered OPE, if they are allowed to run it. I am sure that the small fortune that I have in cordless tools will end up in the landfill.
Jp
Do any of these companies think of theft? I see that as a major problem.
Bob
Interesting concept. But I would like to see real world numbers on run time, longevity and a true ROI study.
I have yet to see any full scale adoption of any electric OPE in quantity from any of the multi million dollar landscape management companies in my area. There are several with some having 30-40 crews per depot with several geographically dispersed depots throughout the state. These guys truly manage down to the penny. They live on efficiency studies, preventative maintenance, debt structuring, employee retention tactics, market research, customer feedback etc etc. For example they monitor down to the inch how much string trimmer line a crew should be using, have low cost energy drink vending machines at the shop so crews aren’t wasting time at gas stations, ditched the trailers for cab over trucks with utility bodies (less accidents cheaper insurance rates). I guy can really nerd out on this stuff. Some truly impressive individuals work for and own these outfits. If commercial electric OPE was a thing they would be using it.
I shoot the breeze with a manager at one such companies large depot next to my shop. They have been testing battery tools as far back as the DeWalt 40v system. None have lasted more than a month so far before failing. I have seen at least 6 different battery mowers in the last two years they have had out front for sale after testing. He says they keep testing hoping something will come along as they are looking to capitalize on “green” lawn care to capture even more market share and stuff a lot more “green” in their pockets. Sure this is anecdotal but I also enjoy landscape vlogs on YouTube. Haven’t seen anything there yet except a few product placement videos. The market is always evolving but the physics of battery density is not. I don’t think we will see large scale commercial adoption willingly any time soon.
frederick
my home use ego mower only made it two years. now it’s sitting at a “authorized service center” for over a month while I deal with my old mowers trying to keep up on the lawn. So much for a 5 year warranty if I have to wait this long. The service center said warranty support is hit and miss with ego as well…could explain why I’m waiting
Dave
I held a 60V battery at the Equip Expo and despite it’s physical size, it’s lighter than an M18 12ah. They have to be using pouch cells.