Milestone in cordless systems: The battery for your home - the Power for All Alliance

Milestone in cordless systems:

The battery for your home ‒ the Power for All Alliance

Keynote speech by Henk Becker,

President of the Robert Bosch Power Tools GmbH

on the occasion of the press conference

on July 14, 2020

Check against delivery.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the first Bosch Power Tools virtual Press Conference! Bosch Power Tools stands for user centricity and innovation. We develop our products and services fully based on the needs of our users. To do so, we are focusing on different kinds of DIY users. What they all have in common, is a desire for products to support their self-fulfillment and the feeling of “Home made by you”. This is what differentiates them fundamentally from our professional target group: In trade and industry, the main focus is productivity.

We make it easy for DIY users to realize themselves in their home and garden. Innovations such as our EasyCurvSander 12, which allows 3D sanding from flat to round to curved surfaces, inspire our users. The same is true for our AdvancedCut 18 with NanoBlade technology for versatile and almost vibration-free sawing – as well as for our combi drill AdvancedImpact 18 with interchangeable adapters, which allows maximum flexibility.

Talking about flexibility, cordless tools are continuously replacing corded tools in many areas. We at Bosch pioneered battery technology for power tools in 1969: Back then, our batteries weighed 5.5 kilos and were far from what you would call comfortable today – but they laid the foundation for the development of numerous world-first cordless DIY tools from Bosch.

In five years down the road, the share of cordless tools in the DIY segment will already have risen from about 40 to 60 percent. The reason for that is pretty simple: They offer high added value. You can use them conveniently almost without limits. Regarding our Power for All System, this also includes the opportunity to use one battery for various products, ranging from DIY tools such as drill/drivers, jigsaws and sanders to garden tools such as trimmers, hedgecutters and lawn mowers. And there is much more to come as we are continuously extending our cordless Power for All system.

From now on, we are going even one step further. In fact, this is a groundbreaking moment for our users: They won’t have to bother any more about compatibility issues of batteries and chargers from different brands. This chapter will be closed once and for all!

Starting as of today, we are opening up our 18 V cordless DIY platform for partners. Yes, you heard right: Our light-weight, high-performance 18 V Power for All batteries will no longer only power Bosch tools. We are also cooperating with leading companies worldwide and are offering one cross-brand 18 V system. This will generate additional benefit for our users and consequently further uplift the demand for Bosch batteries.

By the way: Today, we also announce a cross-brand battery partnership for our professional users – tailored to their specific needs. But first, I will keep on focusing on our DIY users.

I am now delighted to introduce you to the Power for All Alliance. This is a world premiere! Together with our founding member Gardena, we are establishing a strong bond for home users that includes well-known and trusted brands such as Emmaljunga, Gloria, Wagner and Rapid. And speaking about the Bosch portfolio in detail, this alliance does not stop with Power Tools. It is also open to numerous Bosch Home Appliances.

We all have a common goal: We will offer users the widest range of applications in and around their entire home. DIY applications, garden and outdoor cleaning tools, home appliances ‒ and many more. In the future, our users will be able to use one and the same Power for All battery in every 18 V tool ‒ across all these brands. This will not only save them space and time, it will also save them money with every new purchase. It is literally the battery for your home ‒ now beyond Bosch in the Power for All Alliance. We are convinced that this will give our users a sustainable benefit for their home.

More than 20 million compatible Power for All batteries bearing the Bosch brand are already in the market. In the new Power for All Alliance, we are driving forward the cordless freedom together with our partners. Our common goal is to offer home users the best and broadest cross-brand 18 V system and thus maximum added value.

We are excited to jointly set this milestone today and look forward to welcome further partners! In a moment, we will outline our application range in more detail in some video clips and, of course, we will be pleased to provide further information during a discussion afterwards. First of all, however, I would like to hand over to Pär Åström, President of our founding member Gardena.