Lifetime:

What is the expected lifetime of a Bosch Li-Ion battery?
All Bosch batteries are developed and tested according to the Bosch quality standards. Therefore, Bosch Li-Ion batteries perform as well as Bosch NiMH/NiCd batteries.
Compared to competitors’ Li-Ion batteries, the Bosch Li-Ion batteries have an up to 400% longer lifetime, which also means less battery replacement costs for the user.

How can I tell whether the battery is ageing, as there is no memory effect anymore?
A significantly reduced work time after full charging indicates that the battery is used up and must be replaced. 

What are the consequences of extreme temperatures to the battery’s lifetime?
To ensure a long lifetime, Bosch Li-Ion batteries should be:
- charged in a temperature range between 0 and 45 °C
- used in a temperature range between -20 and 70 °C
  
- stored in a temperature range between 0 and 20 °C.

Capacity:

Why do Li-Ion batteries have high power even at lower capacity?
The capacity values of nickel and Li-Ion cells overlap but Li-Ion cells have a higher energy density than conventional nickel cells. The reason for this is the higher voltage of a Li-Ion cell compared with a nickel cell.

What is the impact of storage on the battery’s capacity?
If the battery is not used, there is a particularly small self-discharge of less than 3% per month. That’s the reason why, even after months of storage, the Li-Ion battery in contrary to the nickel batteries still has sufficient capacity left to run a power tool.

How many hours can I work with my tool until the battery is empty?
It depends on many factors, particularly:
- the battery’s size,
- the type of tool, the kind of application,
- the material worked.
With the new Li-Ion tools from Bosch a craftsman can accomplish his daily workload with one battery charge.

Assuming that total time needed per hole/screw is:

- 8 seconds for GSRs (3 seconds per screw
   (for driving in) + 5 seconds time in between
    to adjust). 

- 51 seconds for GBHs (46 seconds per hole 
  (for drilling) + 5 seconds time in between
    to adjust).

You can see on the following chart how long you can continuously work with your tool (time given in minutes).

Period of continuous work (time in minutes):

Power:

Will there be lithium-ion batteries with more than 36 volts in future?
The 36V Li-Ion battery has a maximum voltage of 41V when fully charged. Manufacturers of handheld cordless power tools are not legally allowed to issue batteries which have a voltage of more than 42V without specific safety requirements. That is why theoretically a battery with more than 42V could be built but the safety elements would make the product too unhandy to work and too expensive.

Why does Bosch not label the corresponding lithium-ion batteries with 42 volts?
The voltage drops to 36V during the first applications and when fully discharged the current remains at around 25V. Yet in Europe the battery has to be labelled with the average voltage. It is illegal to label the battery with its maximum voltage. Therefore, considering the preceding questions it is coherent to state that with the new 36V Li-Ion batteries Bosch has reached the maximum voltage feasible for handheld cordless power tools at given regulations.

Safety:

Will a lithium-ion battery overheat?
Thanks to the Bosch exclusive ECP technology ( Electronic Cell Protection), a Bosch Li-Ion battery will never overheat. If the battery gets too hot during discharge, the ECP actively manages the performance of the tool until the battery has reached the optimum working temperature again. Therefore, there is no risk of overheating when using Bosch Li-Ion batteries. Furthermore, Bosch has developed a heat conductive housing (Bosch Heat Management), which transfers the heat from the inside to the outside of the battery pack.

Weight:

How can the weight difference between Li-Ion and other batteries be explained?
Li-Ion batteries have a higher energy density compared to NiCd/NiMH batteries. Li-Ion cells have about 3 times the voltage of nickel cells, which means that one Li-Ion cell makes up for 3 nickel cells, so the Li-Ion battery pack can be lighter. (Energy density and weight comparison)