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Comment by asddubs | Hacker News Reader

the real win with power tools would be a unified battery standard across manufacturers

Unfortunately I don’t think the various manufacturers would ever agree to such a thing. It’s a relatively easily solvable problem if you own a 3D printer though. There are a ton of adapters available on thingiverse already to mix and match batteries between them.

I think it should just be mandated by the government

Government should be minimal, regulation and policies aren’t a magic wand. Functioning free markets self regulate. The crux is that it’s very expensive and difficult to break into the market.

I’m also really tired of hearing folks continue to advocate for regulation of everything.

it worked for phone charger adaptors. every phone had its own proprietary connector before the EU stepped in and mandated micro usb. and things immediately got so much better.

Where do they have functioning free markets anyway?

Wow, they self regulated? So how do I get my dewalt batteries in my milwaukee drill as a result of this self-regulation?

Free market does not function without regulation enabling it, Interface standards are where regulations are pretty much absolutely to enable competition. No market is truly free, markets without regulation would only optimize for profit not better products or value for consumers.

Interop standards make markets freer. Vendors have negative financial incentive to support interop, larger/dominant they are the incentive worsens. Given reality of lock-ins, network effects and inefficiency/friction of migrations it is impractical to expect a better product will replace the ones without interop.

I cannot thank the free market enough for lead free gas, lead free paint, airbags, seat belts, removal of chlorofluorocarbons, etc.

Airbags are a funny example to bring up in a topic of unification, because airbags are not unified. The Americans and the Europeans have tried to unify airbag designs so that they don't need different designs on different continents, but apparently they've yet to agree on it. The basic gist was that Europeans want smaller/less forceful airbags, whereas Americans want bigger/more forceful airbags, and this stems from Europeans assuming the driver wearing a seatbelt and Americans assuming an unbelted driver.

The topic is regulation, not monoculture or planned economy. I am not arguing that everything has to be the same everywhere, I am arguing that the market is the wrong mechanism to rely on as the sole source of desirable change.

network neutrality ...

Has their been a functioning free market that self regulated in the past 100 year? This is a serious question, I am honestly looking for information.

All it takes is two or three manufacturers to agree on an interoperable standard and consumers will force the rest on board.

Are the battery management systems standard across manufacturers though?

one size doesn’t fit all. I quite like different battery designs. I have tools from multiple manufacturers, Milwaukee is my current favorite but Dewalt flexvolt is a close second. It can pump out 60 volts for high current tools.

sure, I do think there should be several standard form factors, based on the fact that there's different voltage tools alone. But it can still be standardized so that there's just like 4 - 6 to choose from, rather than every manufacturer forcing you into their ecosystem of incompatible chargers and batteries.

Even within ecosystem I get confused. Can I use a Toro 60V chainsaw battery with their 60V snowblowers at reduced runtime? Or vice versa?

I bet the answer on that kind of thing will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

edit: thinking further, can I just get an extension cable and put the battery pack in a backpack? I'd rather that than carry it around in a chainsaw form factor.

bosch also has two incompatible battery systems for their cheaper green lines and their blue line aimed at professionals.

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