COMPANY FOCUS - BY PETER BRETT
Major investment to pay off when Hitachi becomes HiKOKI
THERE is simply no escaping the advances in battery technology at the moment. Best of all, we should sit back and enjoy, because the tools we use are just going to become better and better.
I really think we have never had it so good….and the HiKOKI Multi-Volt System is proof enough of that.
MOST readers will already know Hitachi will become HiKOKI this year, and so it was with whetted appetites the assembled tool press were met at the gates of Mill- brook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire to have our phone cameras stickered before being chauff eured off to the event.
It seems that while HiKOKI were happy for us to photograph their new tools, MillBrook wasn’t risking the chance of an odd shot of a prototype vehicle being put through its paces on their many tracks. To me, it seems like no-brainer marketing - to hit tool buyers with a brand-new idea to really launch and help establish the HiKOKI branding from the off . The 36V Multi-Volt battery pack is a big idea with enough genuine usefulness and innovation to get users to look at the HiKOKI brand - even if they haven’t been Hitachi users.
The Technology This is not the fi rst Multi-Volt battery pack
on the market, so we are used to the idea. However, in my view, the 36V battery pack will be much easier for ‘old’ Hitachi and new HiKOKI users to make full use of. HiKOKI are offering two versions of the battery - 36V/18v in 2.5Ah or 5Ah capacities or 36V/18V in 4Ah or 8Ah capacities. This means the battery packs have more than 1000W of power on off er, but at the same time, due to some clever design work, they are not subject to the transport or delivery restrictions that apply to Lithium Ion battery packs over 18v. The new 36V battery packs are only marginally larger than a current 18V Hitachi battery, and they will fi t all current 18V Hitachi tools - as well as any new 18 or 36V HiKOKI tools in the future. In a nutshell, older 18V tools can enjoy longer the runtimes of 5 or 8Ah battery
packs, while the newer 36V tools will have the benefi t of double the power/voltage on tap. What HiKOKI calls ‘Intelligent Switching Technology’ allows the tool and battery pack to recognise each other, and adopt the correct operation mode to suit both.
Simon Miller, Marketing Director of HiKOKI Power Tools UK, told me: “With our Multi Volt battery packs, we have developed a technology that off ers the user not just high performance but also full fl exibility.”
More Technology
With Lithium Ion, the way to ensure a long battery life is to keep heat build-up in the pack to a minimum, both in use and while charging. HiKOKI developed an integrated cooling system within the battery to control heat build-up. Also, by using more volts and fewer amps the 36V battery has a slower heat build- up in use, with the result that the battery can be recharged more times, as well as delivering more power while being used. What is called a classic win-win. Along with the battery packs, HiKOKI developed the new UC18YSL3 Rapid Charger which will take a mere 32 minutes to fully charge a new 36V battery. Hitachi users also have the security of knowing their old chargers are compatible with the new Multi-Volt battery packs, and can be charged up to 1500 times without appreciable impact on performance. And, something that many Hitachi users have asked for - a battery charge indicator on the battery pack itself. Four little lights will tell the state of charge on a battery pack, with four lights showing full charge and one representing a trip to the charger.
16 TBH September, 2018
www.toolbusiness.co.uk
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