Formation and development of lithium battery for cordless power tools

In the process of popularization of electric tools, cordlessness, rechargeability, portability, and light weight have become important development trends for electric tools. At the same time, the technical requirements of power tools are gradually changing, such as engines with higher torque and power, more efficient motor drives, longer battery life, more compact sizes, fail-safe designs, and IoT telemetry. In the context of the cordless trend and high requirements for batteries, the application of lithium batteries in the field of power tools has accelerated.

According to understanding, the power tools previously used mainly nickel-cadmium batteries. However, due to the many disadvantages of nickel-cadmium batteries, the European Union had legislated to force the delisting of nickel-cadmium batteries for power tools as early as three years ago, which resulted in low environmental pollution, large power reserves, light weight, long life, and short charging time, which are in line with electric power. The trend toward miniaturization and light weight of tools provides significant development opportunities for lithium batteries. Today, the power tool market has become a battleground for lithium battery companies.

Up to now, the application of cordless power tools is still dominated by the European and American markets, with companies such as TTI, Black & Decker, Bosch, Makita, and Bao Shide occupying major market shares. Among them, TTI has the largest market share. Research data shows that in the next few years, there is a huge room for increase in cordless power tools. It is expected that the market space of cordless power tools this year is expected to exceed 18 billion U.S. dollars, and its market space will reach 19.35 billion U.S. dollars by 2021.

In the development process of cordless power tools, th e choice of batteries has gradually shifted. Compared with traditional nickel-cadmium batteries, lithium batteries have lighter weight, higher efficiency, larger capacity, and better high temperature resistance. At the same time, the discharge performance above 30C can be achieved, and the effect is more ideal under normal temperature and wide temperature environment. Compared with nickel-hydrogen batteries, lithium batteries have better low-temperature performance and energy density, and have a longer service life than nickel-hydrogen batteries, which are more in line with the development trend of cordless power tools.

It is precisely because of many advantages that lithium batteries have become the first choice for end users of cordless power tools. At the policy level, guidance is also being actively carried out. As mentioned above, the European Union issued a new regulation three years ago, and wireless power tools must not use nickel-chromium batteries; also three years ago, according to the industry standard preparation plan issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, China initiated the industry standard for lithium batteries for power tools to solicit opinions. Promote the standardized development of lithium batteries for power tools. In this industry background, related power tool companies have begun to adopt lithium batteries on a large scale, which has created a huge market demand for lithium batteries.

According to industry data, the global power tool market reached 31.8 billion U.S. dollars (approximately RMB 225.2 billion) last year. Based on a compound annual growth rate of 5.5%, the global power tool market will reach 41.7 billion U.S. dollars (approximately RMB 2953) by 2024. Billion). Among them, the penetration rate of cordless power tools will exceed 50%. According to the estimation of 30% of the cost of lithium batteries, the global power tool lithium battery market will reach 44.3 billion yuan by 2024.