If you have been looking for a cordless vacuum cleaner then no doubt you will have noticed that many of the more popular and better models love to talk about their lithium-ion battery.
The better cordless vacuum cleaners tend to have this type of battery and in all honesty, if I was in the market for a new vacuum that was cordless right now a lithium-ion battery is something I would want it to have.
Still, while many people know that this type of battery good, most people have no idea what the heck a lithium-ion battery is, what it does, how it works and what makes it the best kind of battery for a cordless vacuum cleaner.
Well, today I am taking a closer look at lithium-ion batteries and letting you know why the cordless vacuum cleaner you are looking at should have one.
Contents
So What Is A Lithium-Ion Battery?
Basically, it is a rechargeable battery that makes use of these things called lithium ions.
What these do is move between different electrodes; one direction causes them to recharge and the other to discharge.
The internals of these batteries are pretty complex with a temperature sensor, a charging monitor, voltage tap and a voltage converter being the main components that make it up.
Lithium-ion batteries are the go-to batteries for most higher-end electronics these days and they can come in all kinds of designs.
For example, a laptop and a phone will have completely different sizes of battery, but they will both be lithium-ion batteries, just different shapes, and sizes.
Why Is It Best For A Cordless Vacuum Cleaner To Have A Lithium-Ion Battery?
To be honest with you I look at that many different models in my quest to find the best cordless vacuum cleaners that I take for granted that most cordless models have a lithium-ion battery.
However, I get that some of you may be wondering what the fuss is. Well here are some of the advantages of a cordless vacuum cleaner having a lithium-ion battery.
Battery Life
One of the biggest concerns of cordless vacuum cleaners and actually anything that requires a battery is battery life.
The next big leap in terms of our technology has to be some kind of super battery!
When cordless vacuum cleaners first hit the scene, battery life was a major issue and some models gave you about 10 minutes of battery life at most.
Thankfully this has improved over the years.
Holding The Charge
Some batteries will slowly drain and lose their charge when they are not used. It is said that a regular rechargeable battery can lose as much as 20 percent of its charge!
A lithium-ion battery, thanks to its complex internal workings, will lose five percent at the most. It is much more efficient and keeping the energy that it has saved.
More Compact
Gone are the days when the battery weighed a ton and was about a quarter of the size of the appliance it is powering.
Lithium-ion batteries tend to be far more compact in their size and much, much lighter.
This is a huge plus for a cordless vacuum cleaner as it makes the overall weight far less. Plus it means that the battery does not make the vacuum bulkier than it needs to be.
Less Wear And Tear
Some batteries can be a real pain to get the best out of. You have to let them fully run out so that you can get the best out of them.
That is not the case here which for a cordless vacuum cleaner is great.
You can charge and use it as much as you like without it having any negative effect on the battery.
Anything To Watch For With A Lithium-Ion Battery?
While a lithium-ion battery is the most popular choice for a cordless vacuum there are a couple of downsides to a battery of this kind.
Overall Life
While a lithium-ion battery is more robust than other kinds of batteries that are used in cordless vacuums, they tend to last around three years so you have to remember this when choosing your new vacuum.
A Little More Expensive
When it comes time to replace your battery, you will notice that they are not exactly cheap.
Sometimes if you get a cordless vacuum cleaner on clearance or a cheaper model you will find that the battery can be half the price of the actual vacuum!
I do though think that the higher price is warranted as a lithium-ion battery is far better for a cordless vacuum and in all honesty, a cheaper kind of battery would simply not be able to power a Dyson or a Shark.
Do All Cordless Vacuum Cleaners Have Lithium-Ion Batteries?
I would say that they are becoming more and more common and in the next few years as the price of these batteries continues to come down, it will be the standard.
However not all cordless vacuum cleaners have a lithium-ion battery. Those that do will tend to “brag” about it in their product description.
It is not just the big boys of Shark and Dyson that have a lithium-Ion battery.
If you do a quick search for cordless vacuum cleaners you will notice that Vax, Morphy Richards, Bosch and much more tend to make use of lithium-ion batteries.
This gives them the extra power they need for more powerful suction, plus you get the max usage time possible.
I would certainly make sure that the cordless vacuum cleaner I was looking at had this type of battery.
Not just because it will give you more run time, but because in my experience the more powerful and efficient the battery, the better the power and suction of the vacuum cleaner are.
Hopefully, you now know why so many cordless vacuum cleaners love to talk about how they make use of a lithium-ion battery.
The days of a battery that give us a few days of use before they need to be charged seem to be still a few years away.
However for now, when it comes to cordless vacuum cleaners, lithium-ion batteries are the best you can get.
