Milwaukee M18 Vs M18 Fuel: What's The Difference?

Milwaukee Tools is celebrating its centennial this year, marking 100 years of producing durable and reliable tools for auto maintenance, woodworking projects, and home improvement. Milwaukee did about $8 billion in sales in 2022, $3 billion more than the entire chain of more than 1,400 Harbor Freight Stores in the US and Canada. Much of Milwaukee's business was in battery-powered tools like drills, impact drivers, and saws, including their M12, M18, and M18 Fuel lines. The numbers in those designations denote the voltage of the batteries, and clearly, the M18 and M18 Fuel tools are more powerful and will run longer than their M12 counterparts, but what is the difference between Milwaukee M18 and M18 Fuel tools?

The biggest difference between M18 and M18 Fuel tools is that most regular M18 tools have traditional brushed motors, while all M18 Fuel tools are built with brushless motors. Brushed motors, as the name indicates, use carbon brushes to convert electromagnetic energy into rotational force, while brushless motors use integrated circuits and Hall effect sensors to perform that same function.

The carbon fibers in brushed motors will become damaged by heat over time and eventually need to be replaced, while brushless motors last longer. But the M18 and M18 Fuel series of tools differ in more than just the construction of their motors.

While you can use any Milwaukee M18 battery with any M18 tool, the M18 Fuel batteries and tools have MIlwaukee's RedLink Plus technology, a system of chips and circuit boards that enable additional features like precise speed control, thermal protection, and auto stop. The M18 Fuel-powered tools are also significantly more powerful than their M18 counterparts. For example, the M18 Fuel hammer drill (Model 2904) has a top speed of 2,100 RPM and a maximum torque output of 1,400 inch-pounds while the M18 version (model 2607) maxes out at 1,800 RPM and 500 inch-pounds.

Some regular M18 series tools offer brushless motors; for example, the model 2902 hammer drill has a top speed of 1,800 RPM and a maximum torque output of 725 inch-pounds. These tools don't have the advanced RedLink Plus thermal protection or auto stop features of the M18 Fuel tools, but they provide extended runtime and lifespan versus the brushed versions at a lower cost than the M18 Fuel versions.