Battery powered chainsaw

[Fuddyduddy1952]

It's all about the chain...correct? A sharp chain
running at the right rpm & torque will cut properly.
Yesterday I cut an 18" at base cedar with my Greenworks 18" 80v saw (wished I known about the one for sale I would have bought it for a spare). Checking different sites of all things Walmart had a Greenworks 80v weedeater on sale way less than a spare battery so I have 2 batteries, 2 chargers (one I can have in truck on an inverter). One battery did the job cutting it all up though.
It's so easy topping off bar oil reservoir and unlike gas so quiet I can hear if something is going on like a limb falling or barber chair, etc.
I'm not an environmentalist but a variety of tools, each has a purpose whether gas, air pneumatic, corded AC, battery, etc.
Then I used a Dewalt 20v pole saw thinking wow...if we had all these choices growing up in the 50s-60s. We had one David Bradley gas saw and everything else manual hand saws and tools.
Fantastic convenience!

 

[Hay Dude]

What lithium-ion battery existed in the late 1960's? The first commercially-available Lithium Ion battery was released by Sony in 1991. Even the underlying science behind them didn't start until the late 1970's, and the first working lab models mostly happened in the 1980's.


Lithium Sulfer packs about 4x the energy per pound of Lithium Ion, and prototypes have indeed been built and tested. This is likely the next technology to see full-scale production. Lithium Air, sodium-ion, and solid state (versus liquid Li-Ion) batteries are all at various prototype stages.


Yes, per pound or kg, gasoline is way ahead. Something like 12 kW/kg versus 500 W/kg. Even after considering the low efficiency of a gasoline engine, you're netting something like 8x better energy per pound from gasoline.


It's not just the greenies. I suspect most buying battery saws are more interested in the convenience factor, than any environmental factor.


Not sure I follow you, here. Gasoline can't be re-used, but Li-Ion batteries are happy through many thousands of recharge cycles. Seems like a useless comparison. You'd do better to look at TCO of the equipment, all factors considered.

I love my Cummins Diesel powered Ram. I love my Stihl 500i.
However, I know deep down inside, a properly battery powered electric Ram would make more torque than a diesel Ram. I also know that once battery technology takes 1 or 2 more steps towards being lighter and longer lasting, it might spell the end of the internal combustion engine.
I can’t see why anyone would fight this?

You’ll charge your truck at home.
You’ll be almost done with dealing with all types of fluids, oils, fuels and their disposal.
Your truck will become a portable, drivable “power station” for electricity.
Your electric saw will have more torque and be quieter than I-C.

I’m “all in” on the best of the I-C engine for now, but I hope we evolve and improve technology. I bet we could have trucks that have 1,000 ftlb of electric torque and saws with batteries that last an hour, if science/technology continues

 

[4570Man]

What lithium-ion battery existed in the late 1960's? The first commercially-available Lithium Ion battery was released by Sony in 1991. Even the underlying science behind them didn't start until the late 1970's, and the first working lab models mostly happened in the 1980's.


Lithium Sulfer packs about 4x the energy per pound of Lithium Ion, and prototypes have indeed been built and tested. This is likely the next technology to see full-scale production. Lithium Air, sodium-ion, and solid state (versus liquid Li-Ion) batteries are all at various prototype stages.


Yes, per pound or kg, gasoline is way ahead. Something like 12 kW/kg versus 500 W/kg. Even after considering the low efficiency of a gasoline engine, you're netting something like 8x better energy per pound from gasoline.


It's not just the greenies. I suspect most buying battery saws are more interested in the convenience factor, than any environmental factor.


Not sure I follow you, here. Gasoline can't be re-used, but Li-Ion batteries are happy through many thousands of recharge cycles. Seems like a useless comparison. You'd do better to look at TCO of the equipment, all factors considered.

The military had lithium batteries in Vietnam and I’m pretty sure nasa used them in moon landing as well. The batteries are reusable but the cost is still a factor. A gas saw can work all day for $10-15 of gas where the battery saw would need several thousand dollars of batteries to do the same job. Even if you had access to electricity to recharge you’d probably still need at least 3 batteries at the cost of several hundred dollars each.

 

[walhondingMF]

I love my Cummins Diesel powered Ram. I love my Stihl 500i.
However, I know deep down inside, a properly battery powered electric Ram would make more torque than a diesel Ram. I also know that once battery technology takes 1 or 2 more steps towards being lighter and longer lasting, it might spell the end of the internal combustion engine.
I can’t see why anyone would fight this?

You’ll charge your truck at home.
You’ll be almost done with dealing with all types of fluids, oils, fuels and their disposal.
Your truck will become a portable, drivable “power station” for electricity.
Your electric saw will have more torque and be quieter than I-C.

I’m “all in” on the best of the I-C engine for now, but I hope we evolve and improve technology. I bet we could have trucks that have 1,000 ftlb of electric torque and saws with batteries that last an hour, if science/technology continues

The way you talk about this I agree with very much so and its also the correct way for those that like it for environmental reason to speak of it as well. The mistake of the EV and battery group was to say it was exclusively for the environment. If you simply tell people what electric will mean for their bottom dollar and efficiency, they are much more likely to "buy in."

 

[4570Man]

Ye have little faith in the future of new technology

I just don’t see things changing dramatically enough to actually make batteries feasible. And I don’t fear change I dislike the government trying to ban the alternatives. When battery trucks can actually haul the load the consumer will buy them on their own. Technology moves fast at first and not so much after that. Is your smartphone radically different from one 5 years ago? One from 5 years before that is radically different. Is a flatscreen tv any different from one 5 year ago? The military is flying decades old jets with upgrades. Is your newish Cummins drastically better or different in design from a 20 year old Cummins? The batteries don’t just need to be a little bit better they need to be a completely different technology at a drastically lower price. And the problem is batteries not electric. Electric motors have been doing serious work for over a century.

 

[LouNY]

I love my Cummins Diesel powered Ram. I love my Stihl 500i.
However, I know deep down inside, a properly battery powered electric Ram would make more torque than a diesel Ram. I also know that once battery technology takes 1 or 2 more steps towards being lighter and longer lasting, it might spell the end of the internal combustion engine.
I can’t see why anyone would fight this?

You’ll charge your truck at home.
You’ll be almost done with dealing with all types of fluids, oils, fuels and their disposal.
Your truck will become a portable, drivable “power station” for electricity.
Your electric saw will have more torque and be quieter than I-C.

I’m “all in” on the best of the I-C engine for now, but I hope we evolve and improve technology. I bet we could have trucks that have 1,000 ftlb of electric torque and saws with batteries that last an hour, if science/technology continues

Electric power has some inherent good possibilities.
But it is going to take engineering to get past the know it all bean counters and provide working drive systems. Yes the electric motor can provide 100% torque immediately however having an EV my wifes Equinox and an electric mobility scooter and having tested an electric utv. One conclusion I've come to is that while the power may be available it is not usable without proper gearing. EV's developed for heavy loads and low speed lugging as well as high speed traveling are going too need a "transmission" of some type, maybe a simple internal two speed or a brake able planetary to have the torque multiplication to move heavy loads at low speeds and not over heat and burn out motor windings or trip thermal sensors and shut you down and still be able to provide the higher speeds. Using variable voltage to provide varying torque is counter productive in low down slogging.

 

[Hay Dude]

The way you talk about this I agree with very much so and its also the correct way for those that like it for environmental reason to speak of it as well. The mistake of the EV and battery group was to say it was exclusively for the environment. If you simply tell people what electric will mean for their bottom dollar and efficiency, they are much more likely to "buy in."

100% agree

 

[alpha&omega]

Combined we have 95 acres of Christmas Trees in the family and switched to Stihl AP battery saws about 6 years ago starting with one and now have 4.

The gas saws rarely come out and the seasonal gas saw issues are no more and nighttime Christmas season operation no longer a noise issue…

So far no battery issues and the newer AP batteries have more capacity and interchange.

I was debating on buying one when they first came out and had the ghostbusters battery backpack. The family were planning to surprise me for Christmas because they thought it would be better on the trees since “being battery powered the trunk base wouldn’t be covered in petroleum products”.

Say what? Just because it’s battery powered doesn’t mean the chain doesn’t require bar oil.

I think that idea in and of itself, caused me to wrap a surprise birthday gift to myself a few years later with the Milwaukee cordless. Ive used the Makita saw, and can say it’s just as nice, but I don’t own any Makita 18v tools, batteries or chargers.

 

[rontaki]

I'm waiting for the nuclear-powered tools and EVs to hit the market. When one of those catches fire, run, just run!

 

[DarkBlack]

The military had lithium batteries in Vietnam and I’m pretty sure nasa used them in moon landing as well. The batteries are reusable but the cost is still a factor. A gas saw can work all day for $10-15 of gas where the battery saw would need several thousand dollars of batteries to do the same job. Even if you had access to electricity to recharge you’d probably still need at least 3 batteries at the cost of several hundred dollars each.

Lithium batteries used during moon landings? When? Lithium batteries don’t really work in cold temperatures, so would need substantial additional heat energy in space. I’m quite certain they weren’t used in the Apollo missions to the moon, if that’s what you’re referring to.

How do you calculate several thousand dollars of batteries needed to do the work of one gas saw? You realize one battery can be charging while you’re using another, right?