Thirty-four batteries smoked, sparked, or caught fire while charging inside the tool. That count sits at the center of one of this year’s larger power tool recalls, and it explains why a Lowe’s aisle of Kobalt yard equipment went quiet in the spring.

On October 7, 2026, the retailer began rolling out a new line of Kobalt 24V batteries built around tabless cells, a construction Ryobi has sold for years. The timing invites a tidy story in which a better cell design answers an old fire. The record does not support that story. What follows is the sequence of events, the engineering behind the new cells, and the gap between the two.

The quick read
  • What was recalled: about 554,780 Kobalt 24V and 48V yard tools and batteries with USB-C batteries, CPSC recall 26-611, announced July 9, 2026.
  • The hazard: charging through the USB-C port while the pack sits in the tool. The agency counted 34 reports of smoke, sparking, or fire, and no injuries or property damage.
  • What is new: Kobalt TXP tabless batteries, a 4Ah pack at $99 and an 8Ah pack at $159, per ToolGuyd on October 7, 2026.
  • What is unproven: any link between tabless construction and the recall’s cause. None of the sources reviewed for this post draws one.

The Timeline: Stop-Sale to Relaunch

Recalls rarely announce themselves. This one surfaced first as a missing product listing, then as a federal notice, then as a court filing, and finally as a replacement product. Each step is documented separately.

January to May 2026

Lowe’s sells the affected tools in stores nationwide and on Lowes.com, at prices from $20 to $482, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

April 29, 2026

ToolGuyd, working from a reader tip, reports that Lowe’s website lists new Kobalt 24V and 24Vx2 48V outdoor tools as no longer sold. Lowe’s had made no announcement at publication. The stop-sale appeared to touch tools packaged with the new USB-C batteries, and the article notes that a stop-sale often precedes a recall but not always.

July 9, 2026

The CPSC announces recall 26-611. Greenworks North America, which trades as Greenworks Tools, is named as importer. The agency lists about 554,780 units.

July 15, 2026

A proposed class action, Yu v. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. et al., is filed against Lowe’s and Greenworks, according to the legal news site ClassAction.org.

October 7, 2026

ToolGuyd reports that Lowe’s is launching Kobalt 24V TXP batteries with tabless cells, and that older Ultimate Output packs are being cleared out.

What the Federal Notice Actually Says

The recall covers Kobalt 24V and 48V trimmers, blowers, mowers, chainsaws, and pruning saws, plus loose batteries, all fitted with USB-C batteries. Manufacturing took place in China and Vietnam. The listed models run from a 3.0Ah two-pack to a 48V dual-blade self-propelled mower, and the full table lives on the CPSC page, which is the place to check a serial label.

Charging through the USB-C port while the pack sits in the tool, the notice warns, carries a risk of serious injury from fire hazard.CPSC recall notice 26-611, July 9, 2026

The mechanism is narrow, and that matters. Trouble arises when a pack is charged through its USB-C port while still seated in the tool. Owners are told to stop doing that and to register for a free replacement. The kit includes batteries without the USB-C port, a charger adapter, a warning label, an updated manual, and a prepaid return label. Registration goes through Greenworks, and the agency lists a phone line at 888-266-7096 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern, weekdays).

Check before you charge: the recall is defined by model number, not by brand alone. Compare the label on your tool or pack against the table on the CPSC recall page.

The Lawsuit, Read Carefully

The complaint is an allegation, not a finding. It proposes a class of U.S. buyers who purchased the covered tools for personal use, and it brings claims under California consumer protection statutes. The defendants’ side is not described in the coverage reviewed here.

Two lithium-ion cells sliced open side by side showing tabbed and tabless electrode construction

The plaintiff’s central complaint is about the remedy. As ClassAction.org summarizes it, the filing says the replacement process fails to offer any monetary relief whatsoever. It also argues that the recall came too late given the reports already received, and that a battery swap does not compensate buyers for lost value or the effort of filing a request. Whether a court agrees is a separate question, and one this post makes no attempt to forecast. Anyone weighing a claim should talk to a lawyer; this is not legal advice.

Why Tabless Cells Matter: The Resistance Argument

Now to the engineering, and the reason the October launch drew attention. A lithium-ion cell in a power tool pack is usually a cylinder holding a long, rolled strip of coated foil. Current has to leave that strip somehow. In a conventional tabbed design, it flows along the foil to one or a few narrow tabs, then out. The farther the charge travels inside the foil, the more resistance it meets.

Garage workbench with a cordless blower, removed battery pack, peeled label and return paperwork

A tabless cell removes that bottleneck. The foil edge itself makes contact with the current collector, so charge exits across the whole width of the roll rather than through a few spots. ToolGuyd describes the result as shorter, more numerous pathways and lower resistance, which it ties to faster charging and cooler running. That is the general logic of the design, not a measurement of Kobalt’s cells.

Heat is where the physics bites. Resistive heating follows P = I²R, so it climbs with the square of the current. Consider an illustration, not data from any specific pack:

Assume 1,200 W at 20 to 24 V: 1,200 ÷ 24 = 50 A, and 1,200 ÷ 20 = 60 A
Same current, half the internal resistance: half the resistive heat
Same resistance, 20% more current: 1.2² = 1.44, so 44% more heat

Lowe’s lists up to 1,200 watts for the new 4Ah pack and up to 2,400 watts for the 8Ah, along with the longest runtime of any Kobalt 24V battery, and the retailer cites faster charging without detail. ToolGuyd’s author, for his part, expects the benefit to show up under heavy loads, with little difference in a work light or radio. He likens it to the gap between a sprinter and an endurance runner.

Tabless cells entered the mainstream conversation with Tesla’s 4680 format, introduced at its 2020 Battery Day. If the player does not load, open the video on YouTube. For a teardown-style explanation of the thermal and resistance angle, the EEVblog host, Dave, covered it in EEVblog #1340.

Ryobi Got There First

The competitor angle is plain in ToolGuyd’s coverage. Ryobi launched its first tabless 18V packs nearly three years before the Kobalt announcement, and in May 2026 added 8Ah and 12Ah EDGE packs exclusive to Home Depot. The 8Ah model lists at $229 MSRP, and Ryobi says it reaches an 80% charge in as little as 35 minutes on the matching charger. The company’s marketing promises packs running cooler, living longer, and charging faster than ever before. Those are claims, and independent runtime testing is a different exercise.

By that yardstick the new Kobalt line is a catch-up move, a point the ToolGuyd author makes bluntly. Price positioning is more concrete: $99 for 4Ah and $159 for 8Ah, with the older Ultimate Output packs marked down to $35 and $79 in the author’s area.

What Tabless Does Not Change

Return to the central question. The recall concerned a short circuit during USB-C charging in the tool. Tabless construction concerns how current leaves the cell winding. Those are different layers of a pack. A fault in port wiring, charging circuitry, or board design would not be addressed by a change to the foil geometry, and no source reviewed here claims it would.

Two generations of cordless battery packs side by side on an oak shelf

There are open items worth naming. ToolGuyd noted that the new line’s tool compatibility is not listed, that the TXP tools themselves are absent from the announcement, and that Kobalt’s newer 24V tools carry lower specs than earlier ones. The cell maker is unconfirmed. In a reply to a reader, the author observed that the 8Ah looks like the recalled USB-C pack’s design; treat that as an observation, not a fact about the internals.

Opinion: a retailer should answer a safety recall with transparency before it answers with a spec sheet. If the TXP packs carry a USB-C port, say so, and say what changed. Shoppers deciding between a Kobalt and a Ryobi should weigh that silence as much as any watt rating.

Before you buy a Kobalt 24V pack, ask:

  • Does it include a USB-C port, and has that charging path changed since the recall?
  • Which tools and chargers does it officially support?
  • Who makes the cells, and where is the safety certification listed?
  • Will the warranty cover use in the tools you already own?

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if my Kobalt tool is part of the recall?

Match its model number against the table on the CPSC notice. The recall applies to listed tools and batteries with USB-C batteries sold at Lowe’s between January and May 2026.

Can I still use a recalled battery?

The notice tells owners to stop charging the batteries through the USB-C port while they sit in the tool and to contact Greenworks for a replacement. Follow the agency’s instructions rather than a summary on a blog.

Are tabless batteries safer?

The sources reviewed describe thermal and charging advantages, not safety certification. They do not show tabless cells to be safer than tabbed ones, and they do not connect the design to the recall.

Do the new TXP batteries fit older Kobalt 24V tools?

ToolGuyd describes them as 24V platform packs but does not list compatible tools or chargers. Confirm with Lowe’s or Kobalt before buying.

Sources