Retired JSO wrote:
Most every automotive batteries from the US are made by either Johnson Controls or Exide Technologies. Interstate and DieHard are made by Johnson as is Optima.
No summary about batteries could be more popular.
No summary about batteries could be further from the truth.
Let's update this summary into today's reality:
"Most every automotive batteries (sic) from the US are made either by Johnson Controls or Exide Technologies."1. Johnson Controls doesn't make any automotive batteries any longer period. None. Zero. Zilch. As stated earlier in this thread, Clarios owns most of the battery manufacturing businesses formerly associated with Johnson Controls.
2. When Johnson Controls did make batteries, they were not
"from the US", as the majority of Johnson Control manufactured batteries were made in Mexico and other countries overseas, not in the USA.
3. East Penn Manufacturing, a stand alone company not associated with Clarios, Johnson Controls, or Exide, is arguably the largest automotive battery manufacturer producing batteries within the United States.
- East Penn manufactures the Duracell branded automotive batteries found in Sam's Club, including the AGM type of battery referred to in this thread.
- East Penn also manufactures the CAT branded batteries referred to in this thread.
- East Penn also manufactures the PACCAR branded batteries referred to in this thread.
- East Penn also manufactures the TRP branded batteries, that were not mentioned in this thread, but TRP is the battery brand tradename for batteries sold in PACCAR (Peterbilt and Kenworth) dealerships
- East Penn also manufactures the Sears Die Hard Gold Platinum AGM batteries... not Johnson Controls as stated in the quote above, and never Johnson Controls, even when Johnson Controls was in the battery making business.
4. And speaking of Die Hard batteries, East Penn is not the only MAJOR automotive battery manufacturer that is actually "from the US". There is also EnerSys, which manufactured the Sears Die Hard Platinum AGM battery, before that product was discontinued.
- EnerSys manufactures the Odyssey brand of AGM batteries
- EnerSys manufacturers the Hawker brand of AGM batteries
- EnerSys recently acquired Northstar Batteries, which was started by 4 former employees of EnerSys/Hawker, so EnerSys now can be said to manufacture Northstar AGM batteries, as well as all the brands that Northstar private labeled, such as the X2Power brand of batteries.
5. There are not just two or three battery manufacturers that make all the batteries available for purchase in the US.
6. The battery business is constantly changing... with companies being bought and sold and parceled out into pieces and recombined into different alliances.
7. A brand name of battery can have multiple sources of manufacturing.
- The Sears Die Hard brand of batteries is one example. Not only does Sears not manufacture any batteries, Sears contracts with different battery manufacturers to produce batteries under the Die Hard brand name (but generally with a different model / color designation.
- The Interstate brand of batteries is similar. Interstate has never manufactured a battery, but Interstate does contract with different manufacturers to produce batteries under the Interstate brand name (but often with different model designations). For example, one Interstate MT7 was manufactured by EnerSys, but most other Interstate batteries are made by other battery manufacturers, such as Clarios.
