Power tools are slowly moving from gas to battery, and dozens of companies are jumping in. Some are big general companies that have making battery tools for a long time (Makita, DeWalt) and some have traditionally made one gas-burning thing (like Toro for lawnmowers, Husqvarna for chainsaws) and now reluctantly, belatedly going electric. As they expand their product lines into each other’s turf, they are all on a collision course. The bad thing for consumers is that there is exactly ZERO standards for the lithium battery packs, although they are practically identical, every single vendor makes theirs incompatible with a slightly different plug. Here is a table I made of companies, their battery lines, and the tools they sell on each:
| Makita | Milwaukee | Metabo | Flex | Bosch | DeWalt | Worx | Toro | Skil | Kobalt | Ryobi | Husq | Stihl | Echo | Ego | Greenworks | ||||||||||||||
| 18V | 40V | 12V | 18V | 18V | 36V | 24V | 18V | 20/60V | 20V | 60V | 20V | 40V | 24V | 40V | 80V | 18V | 40V | 80V | 40V | 36V | 56V | 56V | 24V | 40V | 60V | 80V | 82V | ||
| drills/drivers | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | – | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | |
| circular saw | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | – | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | |
| recipro saw | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | – | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | |
| jigsaw | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | – | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | |
| router | Y | Y | ? | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | |
| angle grinder | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | – | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | |
| power cutter | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ? | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | |
| pole saw | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| leaf blower | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| string trimmer | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| hedge trimmer | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| lawnmower | Y | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| riding mower | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | – | Y | Y | Y | |
| wheelbarrow | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | – | |
| chainsaw low | Y | – | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | – | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | – | – | – | |
| chainsaw med | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | – | Y | ? | – | – | – | – | Y | Y | – | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| chainsaw high | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Y | – | – | – | – | Y | – | Y | |
There are other common battery tools (snowblowers, vacuum cleaners, paint sprayers…) which I didn’t include, mostly because I don’t need them. If there’s a tool you feel should be here, let me know and I’ll add it.
You can see how some companies’ focus is construction, others landscaping, and some try to do it all
There are good reasons for many of the gaps – a 24V battery wouldn’t make sense to power a riding mower, and a big 80V battery wouldn’t make sense for a hand-held drill. But, a lot of the gaps just represent where a company hasn’t managed to make one yet, or has decided not to compete there.
You can see that powered wheelbarrows are rare, only Makita and Greenworks make them, and it’s possible that the Greenworks ones are discontinued.
Also rare is being able to share your batteries between a riding mower and other tools, only Ego and Greenworks let you do that. Ryobi shares, but only with their lawnmower.
Chainsaws are divided by motor power (under 1.5 kW, 1.5-2.5 kW, and 3.0 kW and up). As you saw in my blog post of last year, high-power battery chainsaws remain rare, only made by DeWalt, Stihl and Greenworks. Stihl’s MSA300 is finally available in the USA as of 2023, but still hard to find. Greenworks added a powerful saw on their 60V line (the CS60L810) which is an amazing deal, if you’re already on that platform.
Overall, the Makita 18V and Dewalt 20/60V lines have the best coverage / largest number of tools for the low-to-mid power range, and Greenworks 60V has the best coverage in the mid-to-high power range.