Milwaukee Tool has come out with a new M18 cordless power tool battery that’s specially designed to be resistant to chemicals commonly involved in automotive maintenance and manufacturing environments.
The new M18 XC 5.0Ah Resistant battery, 48-11-1850R, is designed with increased protection against exposure to common automotive solvents, greases, and oils.
The battery was designed for transportation maintenance and manufacturing trades.
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Milwaukee says that the new battery features a resistant battery housing, fuel gauge, and side labels (the shield graphic) to differentiate it from their standard M18 battery offerings.
Price: $169
ETA: June 2022
Discussion
This is fairly straightforward. Most cordless power tool batteries are designed for general construction environments, and not automotive maintenance, repair, or manufacturing facilities where they could come into frequent contact with oils, greases, or solvents.
So, here’s a new M18 XC 5Ah battery with better protection against automotive chemicals.
Here’s what I’m wondering:
Existing Milwaukee M18 cordless power tools, such as their impact wrenches, are already being used in environments where they’re exposed to frequent automotive chemical contact.
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Was this battery designed with existing tools in mind, or existing tools and potential new transportation maintenance and repair space?
That is, is this battery a standalone development, or part of a larger launch we have yet to be made aware of?
Will resistant M12 batteries come next?
Rob S.
Assuming they are closing up any vents for heat dissipation. Will that mean it’s also resistant to higher discharge temps?
Stuart
I would assume it’ll perform as well as the standard 5Ah battery.
The 5Ah doesn’t have much venting. The difference here is more going to be about the type of plastic and maybe type of overmold being used.
Adam
Been cooler if they made it a 6ah, like that one 6ah (48-11-1860) that seems to be a unicorn
Stuart
The cells in the 5Ah have higher performance ratings than those in the 6Ah.
Dave
Typo? If so you can delete this comment after fixing.
Stuart
Sorry, I skipped a word.
But yes, the XC 5Ah battery and XC6Ah battery Adam is referencing are both built with 18650-sized cells.
Based on every example of high performance 2.5Ah and 3.0Ah 18650-sized batteries I’ve seen, the 3.0Ah cells cannot deliver anywhere near the max current of 2.5Ah cells, and they run hotter.
A while back, a different brand came out with 18V 6Ah batteries built with 18650 cells. I asked a manager at another brand (not Milwaukee or the other brand with 6Ah batteries) why they weren’t coming out a similar battery, and I was told that their competitive testing repeatedly showed that a 5Ah battery with 18650 cells will last longer than a 6Ah battery with 18650 cells. They tested the competing batteries and were repeatedly seeing this in lab tests.
I believe it.
Jumping from 2.0Ah cells (10-cell 18V batteries with 4Ah capacity) to 2.5Ah cells ( 10-cell 18V batteries with 5Ah capacity) involves a slight decrease in on-paper performance specs. Going from 2.5Ah to 3.0Ah cells results in a huge decrease in on-paper performance specs.
Some brands released 6.0Ah batteries, but it’s simply not ideal for 18650 cells.
Many brands moved to 21700-based 6.0Ah battery packs, and those are so much better.
Going from 5Ah to 6Ah is a 20% bump up in runtime in light and medium demand applications, but I remain convinced that heat will be an issue in high demand applications.
Adam
I wonder if that’s why we won’t see a 4ah HO battery then, even though they have a model # for one. 48-11-1845
Stuart
@Adam, that could be, or it could be a supply, cost, or perceived interest matter.
Most brands don’t offer compact 5-cell 3.0Ah batteries with 18650 cells.
5.0Ah 21700-sized cells also have performance compromises.
Once you reach a certain charge density, operating temperatures and maximum outputs are compromised for runtime.
Dave
Thanks for explaining! Makes much more sense now!
Collin
The M12 2.0 packs should really be phased out like the M18 XC4.0 batteries. M18 made the jump from XC4.0 to XC5.0. M12 should make the same jump from 2.0 to 2.5. Basically the same performance, and a 25% bump in capacity.
Collin
A 4.0 High Output battery on the M18 line is entirely possible from a technical standpoint. DeWalt has one. Bosch has had one for a while now. Actually, the 4.0 Bosch battery pack with 5 21700 cells has been pretty much standard equipment across their kits, sort of like how the XC5.0 is found in almost every Milwaukee M18 kit.
I’m not sure why Milwaukee is clearly behind the curve here in battery technology.
Adam
Besides finding a Milwaukee model # for the 4ah HO, it just makes sense as the cells would be using the same as the 8 & 12. Figured they had the cooling down so they could accommodate this size pack. Maybe when they release a 15/16ah battery.
Coming down to thermodynamics &/or shortened lifespan seems the most plausible.
Stuart
@Adam,
There are a couple of 10-cell 10Ah batteries, but most brands don’t (yet?) have 50cell 5Ah batteries. Compact 5-cell 3Ah and 4Ah are said to deliver the performance of 10-cell 18650 batteries, but this is unlikely to be true with 5Ah batteries.
There’s also a reason that brands are coming up with alternative solutions for their 15Ah batteries, rather than simply using 21700-sized cells.
Collin
The limit to how many cells power tool manufacturers want to stack on top of each other used to be 2.
It changed to 3, with the most mainstream example being the disastrous and discontinued Milwaukee 9.0.
A 15Ah battery is going to be fairly hard to achieve, in my estimation, with present-day conventions (as opposed to rules), which would be:
a) 21700 cells that provide acceptable power are capped at about 4Ah of capacity.
b) Power tool companies don’t seem ready to make the jump to stacking battery cells 4 high, yet.
DeWalt’s 15 Ah, if I remember correctly, has 30 18650 cells of the 2.5 Ah flavor.
It’s a 15s2p pack made of 2.5 Ah 18650 cells.
15 cells in series gives you 60 volts. Two groups of 15 in parallel.
In 20 volt mode, it’s a 5s6p pack.
5 cells in series gives you 20 volts.
6 groups of 5 in parallel gives you some pretty high current figures.
Collin
A FlexVolt “15ah” built with the highest capacity power tool 21700 cells (4Ah) would instead be 24 amp hours, and a whole lot bigger.
Steve
I think it might have been designed in response to the Dewalt batteries as both go deeper into automotive.
Jim Felt
Brand platform extension! Dang they’re on the prowl to go after every market.
Maybe an actual shop use LED TV with decent speakers will be next?
Good on them.
Fyrfytr998
I wonder just how much it was needed outside of the ability to make more money. Has there been an outcry from those industries saying their batteries are being consumed at a rate faster than other industries?
MM
I wonder the same thing. I am not a pro mechanic but I have had my Dewalt 20V max and my Milwaukee M12 tools and batteries around auto and machine shop chemicals for many years. Oil, coolant, various lubricants, etc, and I haven’t noticed any degradation of the battery housing because of chemical exposure. I was especially surprised because I had a pair of DCD990 drills and a pair of DCF880 impact wrenches on duty in the machine shop for many years. They got a lot of exposure to soluble oil coolant which is well known to swell and otherwise degrade rubber, yet we had zero problems with the batteries or the tools. Maybe some industries really have this problem but I’m guessing it’s very much a niche problem, if it even exists at all. I watch a lot of YT channels doing auto work and there I see people using every brand of cordless tool under the sun ranging from HF to Hilti and nobody seems to be complaining about the chemical resistance of the batteries. The only battery failures I ever had with my machining business were mechanical ones, i.e. someone dropped the battery one too many times onto concrete.
ToolGuyDan
My guess? Some commercial or government contracts started to specify that the batteries needed to be made of solvent- and oil-resistant materials. Don’t have a SKU for that? Can’t get those contracts.
If I’m right, the proof will be that Milwaukee will offer essentially zero retail support for these, because they’re not intended to be bought at retail.
MM
That could make sense. I know that Dewalt released some solvent-resistant batteries a while back but I’ve never seen them in a retail store.
Franck B.
I think the main B&M retail outlet for the “G” batteries is the Mac Tools truck, except maybe for FlexVolt (I haven’t seen them there). I know the truck isn’t really B&M but it’s just to differentiate it from online stores. Grainger seems to carry it but I don’t think they stock it in most stores, so that’s not really B&M either.
On another front, I am going to try the Dewalt “Elite” carbide tipped hole saws that they claim will last 3x vs. Milwaukee. I’m not sure the the 3x, if it is, will be a big improvement worth the price and more difficult availability. (I only mention this because it seem FlexVolt accessories branding isn’t being pushed anymore. The original FlexVolt hole saws seem to have been moved to “Elite” branding as well. What remains of FV accs seems to be excess inventory, like track saw blades.)
John
Yeah that would make sense. The only issues I’ve seen with oil exposure is on the tools themselves where they have rubber grips on the handles. The batteries themselves are just hard plastic.
Collin
I’ve seen M12 and M18 batteries used in years in shop environments and I have never seen an M12 or M18 battery’s casing failing due to shop fluids.
I have seen, however, drop damage.
JC
I just got a couple of boxes of Snap-On cordless tools from my father. Diesel has destroyed the plastic and rubber on all of them. The batteries are especially heinous; since they are on the bottom of the tools they just sat in pools of diesel. I would think that Snap-On, knowing their consumer base, would have made more chemically tolerant power tools. Even after cleaning a couple of the least destroyed impacts, the black soft rubber compound of the grips are a sticky mess. The batteries are a lost cause.
With the capability of Milwaukee’s impacts, the much lower price point, and easier box-store-warranty-swap-out in comparison to Snap-On, it is not surprising to see so many Milwaukee tools at the mechanic’s shop.
They are just responding to whose buying.
rob
If Milwaukee and Dewalt didn’t cheap out on their battery housings, they wouldn’t need to come up with “special” chemical resistant variants.
Adabhael
That shield logo is pretty subtle. If the resistance is really important, I wonder if they considered making the two types visually very distinct. It seems to me that would have helped reduce confusion, ease inspections and so on. Maybe not critical if a whole shop is the same batteries, but in mixed environments or where folks bring their own tools?
SamR
Generally, I welcome any upgrades or improvements.
However, I don’t know how to feel about his one!
Especially with this price point, it should be proof of chemicals, not resistant to chemicals!
Nathan
curious as to why now. I wonder if they were getting too many returns and decided they needed to do something. Which would be odd considering their ratchet and impact wrench devices have been in the wild some 5 plus years.
MAC tool batteries if I recall while labeled as “powered by Dewalt” were always different and where a glass reinforced and chemical resistant sort of affair.
Now the new Dewalt batteries have some that are too – marketed with the new impact wrenches and to some extent the new ratchets.
SO I wonder what took them so long. Eitherway I’m sure it will be useful.