The new Dewalt FlexVolt tabless Li-ion battery is launching soon, and more details have been made available.
Press and media resources haven’t made available, and so I presume Dewalt isn’t ready to answer any of my or your questions.
But, there’s enough info to get a better idea of what the new Dewalt tabless battery offers.
To start off, this is what the new tabless battery (DCB6112, left) looks like compared to the existing FlexVolt 12Ah battery (DCB612, right).
If you ask me, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to tell the two apart. Maybe mark your old batteries with paint or a marker or something to help with differentiation.
Unless there’s something I’m not seeing, dark grey bottom = tabless, yellow bottom = older Li-ion tech.
Dewalt says the new battery delivers 50% more power, although not necessarily in application.
This is congruent with how tabless Li-ion batteries have higher power deliver specs than older-style 21700-sized Li-ion batteries.
Bosch spelled out exactly what you can expect with their batteries.
Makita has done the same when they launched higher performance batteries.
It’s disappointing that Dewalt only says “50% more power, not in application.” But that’ll probably sell more batteries than saying things like “up to 16% faster cutter” or “22% longer cutting distance.”
The new Dewalt FlexVolt tabless battery is surely an upgrade, but I think it’d be helpful to quantify that outside of blanket “not in application” claim.
Dewalt also says the new battery delivers 50% longer lifespan compared to their existing FlexVolt 12Ah battery, based on charge cycles.
Again, this was expected – it’s what you get with higher performance Li-ion cells that run cooler under operating loads.
The new battery is negligibly lighter – Dewalt specs the older battery at 3.4 lbs and the new one at 3.34 lbs.
It seems Dewalt simply took tabless Li-ion cells – the same or similar as are in their PowerPack 4Ah and 8Ah 20V Max batteries – and upgraded their 20V/60V Max FlexVolt 12Ah battery.
There’s nothing wrong with that, it just means this a small evolutionary upgrade.
The main benefit, in my opinion and experience, will be the thermal endurance. The existing FlexVolt 12Ah battery delivers extended runtime, but heats up with very demanding use. The new battery should run cooler for longer, which is the case for other tabless cell power tool batteries.
In my opinion, the greater endurance and performance boost of the new battery renders the older one obsolete.
The new battery will be compatible with Dewalt 20V Max and FlexVolt 60V Max cordless power tools.
Pricing details are not yet available. Dewalt also has not specified a firm ETA.
Unless you urgently need a new FlexVolt tool kit or replacement batteries, I’d say wait for this one to come out.
