I don't know all the technical specifications of these batteries but I'm betting that the collective brainpower of FIRST mentors on this forum will come to logical conclusions regarding their compatability. For us it breaks down like this. A team gets two batteries in the kit and maybe buys two more during the build so they have enough to make it safely through a day of competitions. After three or four years they have built up an inventory of 12 - 16 batteries, maybe a few less if they just accept the two batteries in the kit each year. Hypothetically, let us say the team develops a sophisticated charging station that can accomodate maybe 15 batteries. The team is by no means in financial peril but is stretching it's budget to impact as many kids as they can. They are working on the assumption that FIRST will use the same batteries and they won't need to make a significant investment in new batteries but will be able to recondition and reuse old batteries. Maybe they will even provide them for use to rookie teams at the comps who may have thought that two batteries was enough. (I'm no engineer but my guess is it is better to have more than two batteries at a competition.) Now with the current state of affairs the team is faced with the "do we just use the two batteries we got in the kit and waste the rest of the room in the shiny new charging rack or do we buy a batch of the new batteries and run the risk that FIRST will change again next year?" question.
My guess is the bottom line in all of this is that some teams (ours included) have invested in what we thought would be a consistent component from year to year and now we're faced with the dilemma of "to replace or not to replace". Dave - I understand your comments regarding "don't assume that kit parts won't change" but it would be nice to have some input. Perhaps FIRST could have alerted teams to an impending change and allowed veteran teams to "opt out" of getting new batteries so a smaller donation of them could go towards the rookie and newer teams. I can speak for our team that it is nice to get fresh batteries each year but we've got enough of them from previous years that we could do without if it meant a newer/rookie team got them as long as the battery remained consistent.
For us it boils down to the question of "can we afford to replace our old batteries?" and "do we want to run the risk of getting burned again?" My guess is our fancy new, high-tech, one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art charging station will be underutilized this year. Anyone want to rent space in it?
I want to believe that FIRST isn't bowing down to suppliers and I'll take Dave's word for it but it would have been nice to have had a heads up.
Sean