Electric vehicles

[Stroppymonkey]

Just thinking about battery's in reality.
Dad had one of the first Bosch cordless drills ....with chuck 30 odd years ago.
Took hour or two to charge and lasted a Good shift.
Have they actually improved that much when you step back?t
if that rate of improvement carries on leccy cars will take a while to get much better
Or are we being conditioned to just drive and stay local ...

I’ve been using cordless kit for 25 years and it’s leaps and bounds ahead. I was an early uptaker on lithium in 2008 and that was a big step up from Nicad and Nimh. Uses to think 2ah was the mutts nuts, now running 4/5/6/9 amp batteries and some of the vans don’t carry corded tools anymore. A decent 4amp battery is about the same money we charge an hours Labour for, whereas 15 years ago they were double the money not even taking into account inflation. as So yes.. it’s definitely changed a LOT in 30 years .

 

[6feetdown]

Just thinking about battery's in reality.
Dad had one of the first Bosch cordless drills ....with chuck 30 odd years ago.
Took hour or two to charge and lasted a Good shift.
Have they actually improved that much when you step back?t
if that rate of improvement carries on leccy cars will take a while to get much better
Or are we being conditioned to just drive and stay local ...

15 minute cities!

 

[craig]

I shall give one or 2 a go at some point …. Couple of my employees could easily have off road charging and don’t do big miles and don’t tow.
New prices still mental though

No idea what longevity is on them, but if you can make them work, as @pettsy said nearly new ones are for peanuts compared to ICE!
I`ve been caught a few times looking through van trader and thinking wow that's cheap, only to clip on the ad to find its electric.

 

[LKSF]

One thing which has been improved is how batteries discharge. A battery which runs down gradually towards the end is no good, modern batteries which give 100% right until the end are much more useful. That, charge time and output too.

 

[William127]

I’ve been using cordless kit for 25 years and it’s leaps and bounds ahead. I was an early uptaker on lithium in 2008 and that was a big step up from Nicad and Nimh. Uses to think 2ah was the mutts nuts, now running 4/5/6/9 amp batteries and some of the vans don’t carry corded tools anymore. A decent 4amp battery is about the same money we charge an hours Labour for, whereas 15 years ago they were double the money not even taking into account inflation. as So yes.. it’s definitely changed a LOT in 30 years .

I remember about 16 years ago I had a decent makita cordless and a 3 3.0 pre lithium batteries. Putting up a picket fence with no gaps, hundreds of screws, this time of year and bitterly cold. Popped to homebase for something and they has a Worx cordless with 2 batteries for something like 25 quid in the sale really not a bad thing for the money. But it took me both drills and constant charging to be able to keep working!
Only small corded tools I use now are a 4.5 inch grinder, but only for sanding and even more rarely the sds for chiselling.
Just bought my first 8.0 for the milwaukee polesaw, serious power from that never mind what a 12 would be like !

 

[V8Druid]

I remember about 16 years ago I had a decent makita cordless and a 3 3.0 pre lithium batteries. Putting up a picket fence with no gaps, hundreds of screws, this time of year and bitterly cold. Popped to homebase for something and they has a Worx cordless with 2 batteries for something like 25 quid in the sale really not a bad thing for the money. But it took me both drills and constant charging to be able to keep working!
Only small corded tools I use now are a 4.5 inch grinder, but only for sanding and even more rarely the sds for chiselling.
Just bought my first 8.0 for the milwaukee polesaw, serious power from that never mind what a 12 would be like !

I have to say, Ferrex's stuff from Aldi has been excellent .. got half a dozen batteries and use them in rotation, but TBF you'd get away with just two for a single tool ... charges as fast as it depletes

no way could/would I justify (to me ) forking out the kind of big money for the 'branded' selection of tools I have for probably a quarter of the cost and for the use they get, they perform bloody well -- especially the 5" grinders -

 

[Stroppymonkey]

I have to say, Ferrex's stuff from Aldi has been excellent .. got half a dozen batteries and use them in rotation, but TBF you'd get away with just two for a single tool ... charges as fast as it depletes

no way could/would I justify (to me ) forking out the kind of big money for the 'branded' selection of tools I have for probably a quarter of the cost and for the use they get, they perform bloody well -- especially the 5" grinders -

Difference is that I’m out on customers houses charging £60+vat an hour .. so you need to be seen to be running top end kit if you’re charging top end prices, and my batteries will run in at least 24 different tools that we have across my personal kit and work tools. Horses for courses
Also the naked tools are surprisingly cheap these days. Brushless DW 115mm grinder is £85+vat

 

[Smiffy]

I have to say, Ferrex's stuff from Aldi has been excellent .. got half a dozen batteries and use them in rotation, but TBF you'd get away with just two for a single tool ... charges as fast as it depletes

no way could/would I justify (to me ) forking out the kind of big money for the 'branded' selection of tools I have for probably a quarter of the cost and for the use they get, they perform bloody well -- especially the 5" grinders -

I like lidl Parkside tools as well but You will really notice the difference if you put them head to head with main brands. There is even a vast difference between tools from the big brands. I have quite a lot of brushed gear as it is considerably cheaper but still decent tools. Just the big Makita brushed drill does not like extended periods of running.
I find lidl really good if you aren't sure how much use a tool will get. If you break it you get a better one. Although I have a little 12v drill/driver and desperately want it to break so I can get a Milwaukee one but no matter how much abuse it gets it will not die. And I cannot possibly replace it until it's dead as it goes against every grain in my body.

 

[Stroppymonkey]

No idea what longevity is on them, but if you can make them work, as @pettsy said nearly new ones are for peanuts compared to ICE!
I`ve been caught a few times looking through van trader and thinking wow that's cheap, only to clip on the ad to find its electric.

Small and medium ones look a better bet. I was looking at an electric Merc (sprinter) 3.5T the other day which was nearly new for 22k. 90mile range with part load .. so not great!

 

[TiltyShaun]

I have to say, Ferrex's stuff from Aldi has been excellent .. got half a dozen batteries and use them in rotation, but TBF you'd get away with just two for a single tool ... charges as fast as it depletes

no way could/would I justify (to me ) forking out the kind of big money for the 'branded' selection of tools I have for probably a quarter of the cost and for the use they get, they perform bloody well -- especially the 5" grinders -

Big Aldi fan here until I had the cheap Aldi Circular saw start smoking heavily when cutting in the Attic. I had probably cooked it with dust from cutting insulation.
Replaced with a Dewalt version that has been followed with a cordless drill and an impact driver. Smaller battery fine on those but have had to get a bigger one for the saw. Haven’t yet replaced the favourite Aldi Angle grinder!!

 

[Stroppymonkey]

Big Aldi fan here until I had the cheap Aldi Circular saw start smoking heavily when cutting in the Attic. I had probably cooked it with dust from cutting insulation.
Replaced with a Dewalt version that has been followed with a cordless drill and an impact driver. Smaller battery fine on those but have had to get a bigger one for the saw. Haven’t yet replaced the favourite Aldi Angle grinder!!

We’ve got a 54 circ saw now that will fit on a rail. Nothing beats it for ripping up 22mm chipboard

 

[6feetdown]

Difference is that I’m out on customers houses charging £60+vat an hour .. so you need to be seen to be running top end kit if you’re charging top end prices, and my batteries will run in at least 24 different tools that we have across my personal kit and work tools. Horses for courses
Also the naked tools are surprisingly cheap these days. Brushless DW 115mm grinder is £85+vat

Agree naked are pretty reasonable

 

[bobthebuilder]

We’ve got a 54 circ saw now that will fit on a rail. Nothing beats it for ripping up 22mm chipboard

i have a 36v makita track saw ,why the heck didnt i have one before .

 

[craig]

Small and medium ones look a better bet. I was looking at an electric Merc (sprinter) 3.5T the other day which was nearly new for 22k. 90mile range with part load .. so not great!

I think that's what killed prices, is the range, for a lot a users it not enough, made worse in light commercials trying to keep usable payload vs range.

 

[William127]

i have a 36v makita track saw ,why the heck didnt i have one before .

When I first got my 18v brushless makita circular saw I was cutting shiplap cladding. First long rip cut I did when I was cutting as quick as I could walk, mind blowing!

 

[LKSF]

Difference is that I’m out on customers houses charging £60+vat an hour .. so you need to be seen to be running top end kit if you’re charging top end prices, and my batteries will run in at least 24 different tools that we have across my personal kit and work tools. Horses for courses
Also the naked tools are surprisingly cheap these days. Brushless DW 115mm grinder is £85+vat

No that's not true, you need to be able to get in there and do the job you're being paid to do, we're not looking at your toolkit, trust me.

 

[Stroppymonkey]

No that's not true, you need to be able to get in there and do the job you're being paid to do, we're not looking at your toolkit, trust me.

Also we don’t have an Aldi so budget cross platform battery options fairly limited round here. Used to use Ferm stuff from screwfix back in the day but once you try decent brushless kit it’s a world better in performance.

 

[Smiffy]

No that's not true, you need to be able to get in there and do the job you're being paid to do, we're not looking at your toolkit, trust me.

It's more complicated than that with domestic customers. You also have to consider corporate image. If you have aldi tools people will expect you to charge aldi prices.
People will also pay extra for a nicer van with nicer sign writing to be sat on the their drive whilst your working.
Also if you get a reputation for being particularly expensive then it will bring work in it's own right as certain people want to be seen to be hiring the expensive company.

 

[LKSF]

It's more complicated than that with domestic customers. You also have to consider corporate image. If you have aldi tools people will expect you to charge aldi prices.
People will also pay extra for a nicer van with nicer sign writing to be sat on the their drive whilst your working.
Also if you get a reputation for being particularly expensive then it will bring work in it's own right as certain people want to be seen to be hiring the expensive company.

Yes I get that, it's known as snobbery and 'judging a book by its cover' It's just not something I would do.
Its a sad reflection of the world you live in.

 

[6feetdown]

Yes I get that, it's known as snobbery and 'judging a book by its cover' It's just not something I would do.
Its a sad reflection of the world you live in.

I have to agree with Smithy to a certain extent. Nothing wrong with cheap tools but whenever I've employed someone with cheaper brands their work has been poor. Also it shows again to a certain extent that you take a bit of pride in your work (usually when the person is organised not stuff thrown in the van)