Ryobi just made its 18V ONE+ battery lineup easier to read. The brand is folding its three current tiers into two, dropping the “HP” label from the standard battery name and keeping “Edge” as the performance name, with all new packs adding Intellicell electronics and Cool-Core heat management.
Here’s the new shape of the family, as reported by ToolGuyd on August 10, 2026:
- Standard tier (new name: “18V ONE+ Lithium”): 2Ah, 4Ah, and 6Ah packs, lower-priced, aimed at users who don’t need maximum power or longest runtime
- Edge tier (new name: “18V ONE+ Lithium Edge”): 4Ah, 8Ah, and 12Ah tabless packs, the performance line, more power and longer runtime per charge
The old “18V ONE+ High Performance” branding gets dropped. The “18V ONE+ High Performance Edge” branding gets shortened to “18V ONE+ Lithium Edge.” All new packs will carry Intellicell Electronics (Ryobi’s battery-to-tool communication chip) and Cool-Core heat management to reduce thermal throttling under load.
Existing batteries still work with every ONE+ tool Ryobi has shipped since 1996. The naming change is a packaging and SKU simplification, not a new battery platform. The tabless cell technology already shipping in the 8Ah and 12Ah Edge packs stays the same.
What changes for buyers
If you’ve been searching the Ryobi wall at Home Depot by the old names, the search is about to get a little faster. Ryobi is also phasing out some of its older “standard-tier” packs (the older 1.5Ah and non-HP 4Ah units) in favor of the renamed Lithium family.
Specific model numbers for the new naming have not been published yet. Ryobi’s existing 4Ah PBP004, 6Ah PBP007, 4Ah Edge PBP1104, 8Ah PBP1108, and 12Ah PBP1112 are the SKUs currently in rotation at Home Depot. The renamed SKUs will likely reuse the same battery cells in the same housings, just with updated labels.
Price points are not changing with the rename, per ToolGuyd. The 4Ah standard pack still runs $99 at Home Depot, the 6Ah $129, the 4Ah Edge $149, the 8Ah Edge $199, and the 12Ah Edge $249. Those prices have held through 2026.
Why Ryobi is doing this
Two reasons. First, “High Performance” was doing too much work in the naming. A first-time buyer looking at a 4Ah PBP004 and a 4Ah PBP1104 had to figure out that the latter was the tabless Edge pack. Renaming the standard tier to “Lithium” and the tabless tier to “Lithium Edge” is a cleaner split.
Second, the rest of the industry has been moving toward the “tabless” story. DeWalt launched its XR tabless 5Ah pack at the Built Black & Yellow event earlier this month. Milwaukee rolled tabless into its M18 Forge XC8.0 line in early 2026. Makita’s XGT 40V platform has been tabless from day one. Ryobi adopting the “Lithium Edge” label as the official tabless tier name aligns the marketing with how the rest of the field talks about high-output battery packs.
What the Intellicell + Cool-Core pair actually does
Intellicell is the small chip inside every Ryobi 18V battery since 2010 that talks to the tool’s motor controller. On brushed tools, the chip mostly handles over-discharge protection. On the newer brushless ONE+ HP tools, it also tells the tool which battery is attached, so the tool can run the right thermal and power profile for a 2Ah pack vs a 12Ah pack.
Cool-Core is the cell-frame redesign that lets the pack shed heat more evenly across all the cells instead of building a hot spot in the middle. The effect shows up most in heavy draw applications: rotary hammers running in concrete, miter saws crosscutting 4x4s, chainsaws ripping through 18-inch oak. Less thermal throttling means the tool keeps its RPM and torque higher, longer, before the pack pulls back to protect the cells.
When the new naming hits shelves
ToolGuyd did not publish a rollout date. Based on Ryobi’s prior naming updates (the 18V ONE+ 2020 refresh, the 2022 USB-C pivot), expect a 60-90 day transition window. The new labels will appear on Home Depot shelves first, since Ryobi is an exclusive Home Depot brand, then trickle out to the smaller authorized online retailers (Acme Tools, Ohio Power Tool) over the following weeks. Existing inventory with the old “High Performance” label will keep selling until the new SKUs replace them, no clearance expected.
Bottom line for current Ryobi owners
Your old batteries work. Your old chargers work. The new naming is a label change, not a hardware change. If you’re shopping today, the 4Ah PBP004 and 6Ah PBP007 are still the right standard picks at $99 and $129. If you want the tabless upgrade, the 8Ah PBP1108 at $199 is the best dollar-per-Ah value in the Edge tier, with the 12Ah PBP1112 at $249 for users who need the longest possible runtime on mowers and chainsaws.
For a closer look at how the Edge tabless batteries stack up against Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Makita, see our battery platform comparison and the battery technology explainer. For more on the May 2026 Edge tabless launch that started this whole tier, see our earlier coverage.
Source: ToolGuyd, “Ryobi Announced New Simplified 18V Battery Lineup” (Aug 10, 2026)