Getting the most power out of lithium-ion has been an ongoing arms race in the world of power tools in the past few years, and Milwaukee Tool just launched another major offensive in the battery wars. TheMX FUEL line of tools- 其中包括一个断路器和14英寸。截止锯 - 旨在解决通常需要从汽油发动机或空气压缩机运行工具的工作。

密尔沃基集团产品经理布莱恩·阿尔维斯（Brian Alves）说：“有了MX Fuel，密尔沃基工具现在是一家轻型设备提供商。”该工具制造商以前一直在推动其18伏M18电池平台的限制，但阿尔维斯说，该公司需要移至更大的轮廓和电压，以从锂离子电池中获得足够的电源。

In addition to the cutoff saw and breaker, the initial MX FUEL lineup also includes a coring drill, a 10-ft light tower, a sewer drum machine and a stand-alone power supply. There are two batteries for the MX FUEL line: a standard battery that is designed to fit in-line with the tool’s shape, and a slightly larger XC battery that boasts a longer runtime. The standard battery recharges in 45 minutes, the XC battery in 90 minutes.

这些工具最初将于2020年2月推出，灯塔和电源在春季晚些时候推出。密尔沃基尚未宣布最终定价，但阿尔维斯确认MX燃料线将指挥溢价。

确保这些工具执行水平情况able to those running off a gas engine or an air compressor took some serious work, according to Alves. “ ‘Why hasn’t anybody done this before?’ Because it was really, really hard!”

在遮蔽了各种建筑交易的工人之后，他们如何使用工作中的工具后，阿尔维斯团队不得不重新考虑他们如何开发工具。他回忆说：“我们想将电池放在带有供水和混凝土泥浆的截止锯上。”“我们认为我们需要很长时间的开发时间来确保一切都防弹。”

According to Alves, these initial tools are only the first of a planned broad selection of battery-powered light equipment. “This range will be the focus for 2020, similar to how we launched M12 and M18 back in 2008,” he says. “But we’re attacking gas-powered [tools] across the board.”

“It’s groundbreaking stuff,” says Scott Sharun, procurement manager with PCL Construction, which ran trials of the tools. “When we look at the tools in industrial construction that limit us—like air tools and gas tools—this is a big deal.”

Sharun tried out prototypes of the MX FUEL breaker, cutoff saw and the coring drill on real jobsites. PCL’s users expected the battery-powered tools to struggle under harder applications, but were pleasantly surprised, says Sharun. “Our testing group felt like the torque was better than their gas counterparts in some cases.” PCL ran its trials of the tools on jobsites in northern Canada, where the cold can affect performance of gas-powered tools. “We didn’t experience any issue with using them in the cold. Gas engines are just a pain to use in the cold.”

The runtimes of the tools exceeded the charging times in most tests, so as long as Sharun’s team had extra batteries on the charger they could keep working indefinitely. But more importantly, not having to worry about lugging around air compressors or setting up refueling schedules changed the way PCL was able to work. “When we work on large projects we have a centralized tool area, so being able to move the tool to the work face and not bring a gas can or lug air hoses everywhere—it’s a big deal for us,” he says.

Sharun补充说，使用电池工具时缺乏清理是工业网站的另一个好处。他解释说：“我们正在研究敏感的网站，许多环境法规。”“像汽油驱动的截止锯一样简单的东西创造了需要溢出套件和溢出壳的需求，更不用说如果要运送它，我们必须首先排出它。”从工具和设备管理的角度来看，Sharun以该概念出售。“我们计划一旦将它们（我们的工作地点）拿到，我们需要它。”