A look at Briggs & Stratton’s approach to supplying commercial batteries

Briggs & Stratton has been manufacturing engines for well over a century. Like many engine makers, however, it is expanding its footprint into battery electric (BE) power, both for outdoor power equipment and BE equipment.

A Briggs & Stratton Vanguard lithium-ion battery pack. (Photo: Briggs & Stratton)

“We actually started out of R & D with a very small group investigating what some lithium-ion battery options could be,” said Nick Moore, senior director of Product Management and Sales for Wauwatosa, Wis.-based Briggs & Stratton. “We dabbled in some smaller stuff. And we actually had a lithium-ion battery that was used to start our walk-behind mower engines. So, the team actually started working on what a larger-form battery would look like to play in the same markets that we play in with our engines.”

That was in 2014 and began as an exercise in seeing if Briggs could find a battery supplier to help it electrify equipment. The result, however, was that Briggs chose to invest in the in-house capabilities required to manufacture its own battery packs.

“It actually started as potentially a source project of working with one of the large cell manufacturers to say, OK, well, you build us a pack to our specs,” Moore said. “And they really weren’t interested in doing that. They were like, we’ll build you a pack to our specs.”

He added, “Based on that, we realized OK, we have to do it ourselves to make sure that it’s robust enough for the markets where our engines get used today.”

Briggs released its first commercially available 5 kWh battery pack in 2019. As with Briggs & Stratton commercial engines, the company’s battery packs are branded Vanguard — something Moore said was a conscious decision on the company’s part.

“We wanted to enter this market on the commercial side because we really focused on the safety and durability of the batteries.”

The company manufactures batteries in two locations: at its headquarters facility in Wauwatosa and at its battery manufacturing facility in Tucker, Ga., which opened in 2020.

“This facility was actually built initially as the lab for engineering to start to be able to build batteries, but also then to be able to build things to certify,” Moore said of the facility inside the Wauwatosa plant. “Also, [it was] kind of the kickoff of a lot of our manufacturing processes. So we still do produce batteries here, but it’s also engineering’s area to build samples and things like that.”

Regarding the Georgia location, Moore said that’s where Briggs manufactures tens of thousands of batteries every year.

Transferable Operational Expertise

Some benefits that established manufacturers can offer as they diversify their product offerings in this age of alternative power is operational expertise and broad service networks. When Lincoln Electric recently announced its expansion into charging technology, it cited these benefits. Moore echoed the sentiment regarding Briggs’ foray into battery manufacturing.

“The people who stood up the plant (in Georgia) were essentially all Briggs existing employees who have done that with our engine plants,” Moore said. “A lot of the things that we do — how we record the torques of every bolt on the battery pack — it’s like, OK, let’s use the same processes we use on the engine lines, and things like that.”

He added, “When we look at what gave us the right to enter the market, it’s that we do all these things pretty well on a pretty high scale. We know the customers and what they need. So, it was about, OK, let’s get the products to do those same things that we are already doing in these other ways and then bring in some other key people that can help us get there to have a product that can meet this market’s needs in the same fashion.”

Established Global Networks

Another benefit Briggs can offer is its global distribution network.

“Shipping batteries, especially shipping globally, is a pain,” Moore said. “We stock batteries in our DCs (distribution centers) across the globe, so we take that away.”

Providing service is another piece of expertise Briggs can bring to the table.

“What we do is work with our existing Briggs dealers,” Moore said. “If anyone wants to become a battery dealer, there’s a training they can take and they can become a battery dealer. Let’s say someone has a piece of equipment and the manufacturer doesn’t have a service network. They can bring it to a Briggs dealer and actually get the battery checked — diagnosed, if there’s a warranty issue. And then we work with that dealer to do all the swap-out and shipping.”

Brand-Agnostic Packs

Moore said that Briggs offers swappable and fixed battery packs, of which the swappable variety is the newest type. The company worked to design brand-agnostic swappable batteries compatible with a variety of equipment brands.

“The OEMs who are the experts in that and make the best equipment — it would be great if they can have a battery that can switch between an EDCO saw and an Allen Engineering concrete trowel, and between all [kinds of equipment],” Moore said, adding that the company worked with rental companies to get their opinion. They jumped at the idea, he said.

“The idea is that it’s a battery pack that can be used everywhere — really targeted at rental companies,” Moore said, “so that they can have a whole shelf of these and say, OK, I have all these different pieces of equipment. You take all these out to a job site, and you take 10, 20, however many batteries and chargers to do all the work you have on that job.”

According to Moore, another benefit is allowing equipment makers to focus on making the equipment, which is their area of expertise, while Briggs takes ownership of the battery power. A byproduct of this approach is potential cost benefits for rental companies and other customers.

“Normally, it’s the OEM selling their piece of equipment to the rental yard,” Moore said. “In this case, OEMs can sell basically swappable-capable equipment without the battery, and then we can be selling the batteries to the rental company. They can have so many [batteries], so it actually takes a little bit of that initial sticker shock away, then, by not having to have a fully battery-powered equipment sale to the rental company.”

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