DerbyDad03 wrote:
....
I *think* what they may mean is that if I have a 5 year old 18V drill
and they are now selling 36V drills, then they aren't making any more
18V packs. If I want to buy a replacement 18V pack, I'm going to get
one that is as old as my original one.
....

But that simply isn't true--manufacturers aren't ceasing to make 18V (or
most other voltages, either) product, they're simply adding other models.

Milwaukee has three: 12, 18 and 28, they have quit the 14.4
DeWalt still has five choices in current product: 24, 18, 14.4, 12, 9.6

I'm sure the others all similar--there's not a market for only one size
fits all.

It's ludicrous to think they had all the possible number of battery
packs they ever expected to sell for a complete product line built at or
shortly after the same time the line was introduced, even if the voltage
is dropped as was the 14.4 by Milwaukee. The packs are still available
and I'm quite certain if you were to order one it would have a quite
recent date of manufacture--it's simply not economical to maintain any
more inventory in storage than needed for near-term demand.

At some point, eventually they will discontinue them when demand for new
packs diminishes to the point of it being uneconomical to keep them in
stock, but that won't happen until a very high percentage of all the
existing 14.4 tools in existence have ceased to be used and I would
expect that to be quite some time yet to come.

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