Use Your Standard 18v In Multiples To Allow Users To Buy More

Submitted 5 years ago

Dear Sirs

I have a ryobi power tool set of about 20 tools and at least 15 bats, all which use your standard 18v batteries, and I am frustrated by your failures to use more than one battery on higher power tools. I have a ryobi chain say that uses 18v bats, and it would work so much better, if I could plug in a second battery for more power. You offer a more powerful lchain saw, but I must spend over $150 dollars for a 50 v battery for a chain saw that I would use less than once or twice a years. I don't like buying a 40v battery, as it has little use except for the one tool. So why not allow 2 or 3 bats of the standard 18v size to plug in the chain saw, and lawn mower rather than one 40v. much better use of my investment in bats, and this should be obvious.
I have at least 15 bats all 18v which I acquired with other tools, and having to buy a 40v bat while they sit on the shelf, slowly degrading makes no sense at all.
Please redesign all of your more than 18v tools, to allow the use of more than one 18v battery to meet the higher power requirements of larger tools. Your sales of such tools would be at least 10 times your current sales volumes of the 40v tools. You are missing the very obvious opportunity to dominate the higher battery power tool market, by capitalizing on the installed base of 18v bats. Don't continue to be so stupid.

Second suggestion. You would find a huge market if you built a robot vacuum for the houses similar to irobot models. It should use standard 18v bats, one or two, have wifi access for control and supervision over the phone, when not at home, again similar to irobot. Again, failure to do this is passing the sales of at least half of the current volume of irobot sales, because by using your standard bats, every house with such would be able to buy your vacuum without the cost of the battery, because they would already own it. If you did this, you would eat their lunch, and in a few years you could buy their bankrupt company, as you wold have put them out of business by selling a better product, at a lower price, by allowing your customers to use their prior investments in 18v bats.

the major cost in these units are the bats, if you allowed use of the standard 18v bats, you could underprice the irobot units (currently the popular standard for comparison) by 50% by selling units that would use the batteries already in chargers in the home shop of the potential customers.
And, it would extend the use of the customers investments.