Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
I was charging the little lithium battery packs that we carry in our vehicles this morning (a semi-annual occurrence) and it got me thinking about how improvements in batteries over the last few decades have changed things. In the old days you had to carry a big jump pack that needed frequent charging or use jumper cables to start a car with a low battery. Nowadays a small jump pack will hold its charge for months and still start a big V8.
Fire engines used to have generators on board and gas-powered tools. Now it’s battery-powered tools and inverters. The batteries rarely need charging. Even our hydraulic tools (Jaws of Life) use batteries. Older generations of hydraulic tools needed a gas-powered hydraulic pump, hydraulic lines, and frequent topping off of hydraulic fluid. In the old days you had to lug the pump out of the truck, hook up the lines, and pray that the pump engine started. Nowadays we grab the tool off the truck, push one button and we are in business.
I used to be a dedicated corded tool guy until I watched my neighbor use a Milwaukee hammer drill to put holes in a concrete slab for some mailboxes. Now I’m sold on cordless stuff; other than a Dremel tool, I can’t remember the last time I used a corded power tool.
I’ve been putting lithium batteries in motorcycles for over ten years now. They are smaller and incredibly light compared to lead-acid batteries. Eventually the cost for passenger vehicles will be affordable, but right now they are way out of most budgets. Even in flashlights, I’ve gone to rechargeable batteries. No more flashlights ruined by leaking batteries.
The changes have been so gradual that I suspect that most of us haven’t realized how much battery technology has changed the world.
Discussion (34)
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Glad that you are sold! (It helps a lot that you are in a business where periodic charging is enough.)
But who knows how long they will last? Just yesterday I tried to help my son out with a rechargeable chain saw: Guess what? It was dead.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
...and I simply don't recall ever having a flashlight ruined by leaky batteries: nowadays even disposable are not a concern.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Batteries have their place. Everyone hates power cords, especially on things that we move around.
And there are places where batteries do not belong. Automobiles don't have power cords in the first place. The photo in the OP is definitely not an EV on fire.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Since I am a belt and suspenders kinda gal - I have charging packs for my hearing aids in every suitcase because I could not just go to CVS to get a pack of batteries when I got somewhere away from home without one. I’m happy tho that the recharger cable also fits my preferred flashlight for taking the dogs out for last calls. As to auto batteries - when I first moved from TX to CA in the early ‘80’s I did tax work for a start-up that was working on compact and light batteries for cars. It was elegant theory and all, but they couldn’t get the things to stop exploding on the production line. It was not scalable they say. See it once and it’s unforgettable.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
The Hurst tool batteries run for about 45 minutes on one battery. Each tool has a spare that stays on a charger on the truck - the chargers work as long as the truck is parked off of a shore line connection. There is a 50 foot ban up cable that can run the tool off of an inverter on the truck. We rotate the batteries once a month. It’s been an amazingly reliable system for us. Other tools on the truck are all Milwaukee 18V - a pole saw, reciprocating saw, chop saw, and an impact wrench.
You're seeing five of 34 comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.