DeWalt POWERSTACK

Packed with a powerful punch the Dewalt Powerstack Compact 18V Battery is DeWalt's next step in battery technology. DeWalt's Powerstack is an 18V battery with a sleek form factor. Don’t let the size fool you, the Powerstack boasts a 2x battery life over the average XR batteries currently on offer by Dewalt. For example, if you were to charge the XR 2Ah (DCB183) Battery you would get around 500 cycles. The DeWalt Powerstack compact battery will charge 1000 times during its life cycle.

The Powerstack is also 25% more compact, offering the most condensed form factor of any DeWalt battery on the market thus far. If that wasn't enough the Powerstack also claims to be 50% more powerful than the average XR battery.

The 2Ah Powerstack is on-par and in some cases more powerful than a 5Ah (DCB182) battery which for such a small compact battery is indeed a feat to behold. In testing Powerstack would drill holes faster, cut through wood faster and ever create holes using a flat bit faster. The difference in battery design is pulling more power and driving more results because of this.

How does Dewalt Powerstack work?

Originally DeWalt battery casing would hold several smaller cylindrical batteries that work together to power in a similar way an AA battery would work and look. These batteries are then laid into a case and set up to interact with tools.

The problem with this design is that placing those cells into a casing would be inefficient and you end up having empty spaces, making the design clunkier than it needs to be. For years this technology has been used in batteries, you may have noticed this in other household appliances.

Powerstack uses a battery technology similar to mobile phone batteries. The batteries are made using lithium-ion pouches. Using this technology battery cells can be laid on top of each other and folded in an array creating an efficient increase in the use of space.

Due to the battery cells being layered they also share energy more efficiently and get energy from point A to B faster. This causes less energy waste when using your tool. It also gives you that extra battery life, which means that although the first Powerstack battery is 2Ah the run time on tools is more akin to a Dewalt 4Ah battery using the old design.

With the Cells interfacing more efficiently you also get energy travelling faster which increases the power output of your tools when being used. The 2Ah Powerstack battery (on paper) seems like a smaller battery than say the 2.0Ah (DCB183) but it outlasts it, overpowers it, and simply puts over-powers its counterpart.