No tool kit is complete without a great drill. I can’t think of many DIY jobs that aren’t completed without one. Whether you’re hanging a shelf or constructing a frame, you’ll be reliant on this power tool. You can find them in all shapes and sizes from heavy corded hammers to lightweight lithium battery power. If you’re regularly drilling or planning to work off-grid then you’ll be keen to know the power consumption.
Below we will discuss and test drill wattage, explain how to work it out for yourself, and calculate the total electricity required.
How Many Watts is a Drill?
The average corded drill uses between 500 to 1500 watts. A cordless drill draws around 30 to 60W when charging the battery.
The exact number depends on the size and model of your drill. For example, a smaller lower impact energy drill uses 700W, while a high impact hammer drill draws over 1300W.
When comparing tools you will start to see that a drill that can run at higher RPMs and deliver increased impact energy will have a higher running wattage.
In addition, a battery powered cordless drill uses fewer watts when charging although it will draw electricity for longer periods of time to store in its lithium cells.
How to Find Out Your Drill Wattage
There’s 3 ways you can work out the wattage of a drill.
- Check Product Specification
The quickest way is to look at the drill’s specifications. The watts (W) are usually written on a sticker on the base of the appliance. If not, you can check the user manual or the manufacturer’s website for technical details.
- Use a Wattmeter
A wattmeter is brilliant for getting a live wattage reading and tracking total energy usage of any appliance. You can simply plug it into your drill to get instant information.
I used one to test my drills which gave a live reading of 1301W for a corded hammer drill.
- Wattage Formula or Calculator
If you know the amperage and voltage of your drill you can use this to find the maximum watt rating. Simply use the formula Amps x Volts = Watts. Or you can head over to the ‘Watt Calculator’ to work this out.
Drill Wattage Examples
Let’s take a look at specific examples of how many watts a drill draws. Below is a collection of modern drills with their listed power ratings.
| Drill Model | Power Rating (Watts) |
| TITAN TTB653SDS | 1500 |
| DEWALT D21570K | 1300 |
| DeWalt Corded Hammer drill | 650 |
| Bosch Corded Impact driver | 700 |
| Mac Allister Corded Hammer drill | 650 |
| Erbauer Corded SDS+ | 1500 |
| DeWalt Corded SDS+ | 710 |
| Erbauer Corded Hammer drill | 800 |
| Makita Corded SDS+ | 900 |
| Bosch Corded SDS+ | 550 |
As you can see, the power ratings vary between different drills. So you should take the time to check your own appliance.
How Much Electricity Does a Drill Use?
You can use drill wattage to work out how much electricity it uses. Plus this can be useful in understanding how much it costs to run your drill.
A watt (W) is a measurement of power at a single point in time. A watt-hour (Wh) is the total amount of electricity used in an hour. For example, a drill drawing 750W would use 750Wh when running for an hour.
Happily, electricity bills are recorded in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A kilowatt is simply 1000 watts. So a 750W drill running for 1 hour uses 0.75kWh.
In reality, you use a drill for a few seconds at a time. Let’s say you actively run your drill for a total of 10 minutes a month. This means a drill uses about 125Wh or 0.125kWh electricity a month. That’s 1.5kWh a year.
That’s a rough electricity cost of $0.22 a year to actively run your drill for 10 minutes a month.
The exact number will vary depending on how often you use your tools. A professional might be higher, while most amateur DIY users will be a lot less.
Using a Drill Off-Grid
If you’re planning to use your drill in an off-grid situation like a power outage, remote location, car, boat, truck, or similar, the information above is important. It enables you to select the right power equipment and know how long you can run.
You might first consider using a cordless drill in this scenario which you can more easily recharge.
To run a corded drill, you can either use a power inverter, portable power station, or generator to generate AC electricity.
To make sure everything runs smoothly you should check two things on this equipment – wattage capacity and total energy capacity.
Your power source, like an inverter, should have a wattage capacity of at least 20% more than your drill. This ensures it will be able to deliver enough power as they are never 100% efficient. To run a corded, it is best to have 1500 of power capacity. This should run most small to medium sized tools without overworking your equipment.
Secondly, you need to ensure your energy source, like a battery, has enough energy to run the drill for the required amount of time. As we already know, it will use about 125Wh electricity for 10 minutes. This is the equivalent of 10.41Ah on a 12V battery.
You can also connect an inverter up to a car or vehicle battery to draw power. Just ensure you keep the engine running while drilling so you don’t deplete the starter battery.
How Many Watts Does a Drill Use Summary
I hope you now have a better understanding of how many watts a drill uses.
As you can see, a corded hammer drill can draw a fair amount of power when spinning at high RPMs. Although, when it comes to power tools you can find some very efficient options. You could happily pick up a 700W SDS and a 1000W power inverter to run in remote locations. If you’re worried about power consumption, then you should look at efficient cordless lithium designs.
