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Bosch Brings Wireless Charging to Power Tools

By Rain Noe - October 13, 2014

in Tech | Hand Tools

They are the first to market, but they certainly won't be the last: Power tool manufacturer Bosch has rolled out wireless charging for 18-volt cordless tools before any of their competitors. An inductive charger transmits electricity to the battery placed atop it, meaning for the first time one doesn't have to disconnect the battery to juice it up.

The productivity gains spread across the entire body of users should be enormous. I can't tell you how many times I've been using my drill and impact driver in concert, and invariably one or the other will run out of juice, meaning I've got to go back and forth with one battery on both units while I charge the other battery up. Arguably this wouldn't happen if I had the discipline to disconnect both batteries after every job and pop them back on the charger, but I just don't. With a charger frame like Bosch's, I could simply dock the entire tool after each gig and come back to 100% battery life, checking the little LED indicator on the base to be sure.

Check it out:

The company reports that the new 18V batteries are backwards-compatible, so legacy Bosch users won't be left in the wired-up cold.

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K

10 years ago

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Well, this is a pro tool line, and this review seems pretty positive from that perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGAv-QHCC2w#t=16

I agree, though, that it would be ideal for products in the same category to share powering options. Not doing it just creates more e-waste. It seems like it will take stricter legislation, much like what's been going on with cell phones.
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Noel

10 years ago

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It would seem that having some electrical contacts on the bottom of the battery would achieve the same thing much like a cordless jug. That way you could put just the battery on there or the whole tool without the losses associated with inductive charging.
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Andrew

10 years ago

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Can someone tell me why manufacturers can't get together and develop a universal battery? I am sick of using different batteries for different brands of tools, and especially sick of not being able to use still-functional batteries from old tools in new tools even within the same brand family.
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Sean

10 years ago

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So what is the point here? So before I had to plug the battery into the charger that was plugged into the wall (somewhere). Now I have to plug the battery into a slot that has no electrical contacts in the same charger that is still plugged into the wall. Isn't that exactly the same from a workflow perspective? Does it charge faster? It would seem that wireless charging would be slower. Making this inherently worse. I don't see any benefit of having to plug the entire tool into a charger. There was a really good reason that battery packs were made to disconnect from the tool. So you could keep using the tool with another battery pack... This seems like a mindless application of technology developed to reduce wire clutter for devices that you can't easily remove the battery from.
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C

10 years ago

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Whoa! All that plastic!

First issue. One of my favourite things when using a cordless drill is getting to put the battery in!
Second issue. I would hope most people buy an impact and drill as they are way cheaper when bought in a set. Hence you will always have a battery on the charger.

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Scott

10 years ago

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I like where they're going but it seems to be executed prematurely. For practical implementation of this idea, one would need a battery for every single tool in the arsenal. Considering that the battery costs more than the tool in some cases (combined with the fact that you can still only charge one tool at a time), this product really doesn't seem worth the price tag. I'd much rather pay less, remove my batteries, and have them charge at a faster rate on a standard dock compared to today's inductive charging tech.
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kostas syrtariotis

10 years ago

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this is so useless! I mean, the main issue is not charging without plugging, whereas this is a must for other products, i.e. a toothbrush.
What I really need is something that charges lightning fast. Being a heavy DIYer I can tell you that having charged batteries whenever you need them can save your bum in many cases, as having two of them is never a guarantee anyway.
They could provide a clever and simple solution by providing a plug for connecting the tool to the mains in case of low batts while they are being charged.

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Matthew W

10 years ago

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I'm not seeing the time savings here. This literally does not solve any issue other than having to take the battery out... which in my opinion has never been an issue.

As someone who has had the issue of never having a charged battery quite frequently, I think it would be great if the holster was something you wore like a tool belt, and would apply a small but usable charge every time it was hung from the belt. This seems like it would be much more usable or at least a better stop gap till you can charge up another battery for a long duration.
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