BATTERY CHARGERS
gas to battery entails all sorts of operational differences. They need to establish new processes.”
Mountcastle said that a manufacturer’ s online conversion calculators can be a starter.“ But those are more theoretical than real. Our Market Development Reps can go out and provide a personal touch, watching how crews work in the field and how they charge batteries in a shop. Will they need to upgrade electrical infrastructure? Can they slow charge or do they need to fast charge? You need to get more personal.”
Husqvarna has a few pro-level charging options, including 500W fast chargers down to slow chargers.“ We are coming out with a power distribution manager in a few months,” said Mountcastle,“ and you can daisy chain your chargers together. It will continue to read battery charge and switch chargers on and off through their load.”
For charging today, the manufacturer has a charging rail that is basically eight of its 40-C80 slow chargers strung in line to charge batteries simultaneously. It retails for $ 430. The company’ s 40-C1000X4 charger is a loadbalancing device that handles simultaneous high-power charging of up to four Husqvarna BLi-X 40V batteries in one unit. This unit is a combination charger, transport box and storage in one. It retails for $ 480.
Along with the new power manager device, Husqvarna will also introduce new battery updates in the coming months. Mountcastle said the new batteries will use 21700-size cylindrical cells with more energy density and multi-tab designs.“ We have explored pouch cells and we find cylindrical cells work best for us. The company buys battery cells from different vendors and manufactures its own battery housings.
ECHO The broad use of battery-powered equipment is still so new to professional users, according to Jason Wilk, senior product manager at Echo, that making the transition from gas power to batteries will be a unique conversation for every business.“ It’ s different for every user,” said Wilk.“ We try to compare battery needs to their use of gas. What equipment are they running? How much gas are they consuming? How many times do they fill a gas tank each day for a string trimmer?”
For businesses in transition, Wilk said Echo dealers can help them determine the number of batteries they need when they leave the shop.“ There is no single solution for everybody. Are they charging in a shop or at home? Do they need five batteries or 50 batteries. We start with how many
Echo has a dual-port battery charger available now for pro users, with new charging options coming soon.
batteries they want to charge, plus when and where do they want to charge them?
The upfront investment is real.“ There is no denying a higher upfront cash investment,” said Wilk.“ The true cost is long term with batteries. We have to show that our batteries can live through 1,000 lifecycles – so that’ s like 1,000 tanks of fuel. And we can multiply this into costs savings across dozens of batteries.”
Echo provides a couple different options for battery charging.“ On the residential side, the buzzword is always fast charging. That takes a lot of power,” said Wilk.“ For the pro, we talk about overnight charging. And this slower charging uses less electricity. They don’ t need to be fast at the end of the workday. They just care that the batteries are ready to go at 6 or 7 am. You can get a good quantity of charging done overnight with standard wall outlet.”
“ We have a 1-amp top-mount charger, a 2 amp, a rapid 4 amp, and a dual-port 5-amp charger. We are working on solutions for larger numbers of batteries,” he said.
One of those solutions is the 6-Port Rapid Field Charger, available this August, that can charge up to six 56V batteries at once and is also a storage and portable transport device. This is essentially a container with three dual-port chargers. Pro users could plug it in at a job site to access rapid charging in the field.
On the battery side, Echo currently uses cylindrical cells, both 18650 and 21700 sizes.“ The next generation will be the tabless or pouch cell technology,” said Wilk,“ and those battery packs are in development right now.” With less internal resistance, tabless batteries generally charge faster than traditional tabbed batteries.
STIHL Like a few other manufacturers, Stihl serves both the gasoline and battery enthusiasts in power equipment. Much of its recent innovation, though, is in batteries and charging.“ We’ re building up our battery offering not by putting combustion down but by expanding customer choice,” said Stihl CEO Michael Traub recently. The company has a broad line of charging products designed specifically for professionals.
“ We want to help pro users be efficient and have less expenses,” said Paul Beblowski, senior manager in product management.“ To start a transition to battery power, they need to fully understand how much gas they’ re consuming as well as the windshield time needed to refuel gas equipment.”
14 OPE + May 2025 www. OPE-Plus. com