In full swing for fifty years

Makita Netherlands is celebrating 50 years as an independent subsidiary organization this year. This will be celebrated throughout the year with great promotions for dealers and end users. In addition, also in this anniversary year the focus is unchanged on the XGT battery platform.

"We are increasingly distinguishing ourselves from other brands with this strong and innovative platform," says Arjen Peeters, Supervisor OPE & Business Development at Makita Netherlands. "Makita started developing electric motors as early as 1915, which gives us quite a head start. So in 2007 we were the first to introduce battery-powered garden and park machines under the Dolmar brand at the Papendal fair. Limited at the time, with a brushcutter, chainsaw and leaf blower. These were well received, although we saw that the market was not yet ready for them. The need to get rid of fossil fuels was not there then." 

In addition to the development of four-stroke machines, which were already a lot cleaner, Makita continued to expand the proportion of electric machines in the following years. Battery technology was also optimized. Meanwhile, the brand has two powerful battery platforms: LXT (18V and 2x18V) and the XGT platform (40V Max and 2x40V Max). For these, new machines are continuously introduced, such as this month two new cut-off saws and recently the hoe attachment with combination motor UX01G. 

A number of new machines will be added by the end of this year, such as a nice line of impact wrenches for heavier work, multitool, torque wrenches, cable cutters, construction loudspeaker, pole saw, leaf blower, high-pressure cleaner. Peeters: "We will also show most of the machines at the Groene Sector Vakbeurs in Hardenberg in January. There, visitors can see all our innovations."

In addition to introducing new machines, Makita also continues to continuously improve its charging technology. For example, there are now solutions for the safe charging of eight to twelve batteries simultaneously in the familiar blue Makita cases. The batteries are fully charged in about ten hours on 230V. Because they are slow chargers, there is less heat generation. In addition, you can connect four charging boxes to a normal wall socket without any problems. In short: charging up to 48 batteries on a single socket. "In this we are making nice strides. We are always looking at how we can help the professional user carry enough energy to work a whole day in a safe and responsible way. And of course we also have fast chargers in the program, to be able to continue working quickly during the day."