Interstate AGM battery made in China

[Nukeman7]

Anybody want to make bets on how long this Costco Interstate AGM (Chinese) battery will last? It was purchased/installed in January 2024. The Jeep is driven by my son, an 18 year old college student. He does around 10k miles/year, and the Jeep is driven probably 350/365 days in a year.

Given that it is a Jeep Renegade produced by Stellantis with a Fiat drivetrain, odds are that the Chinese Interstate battery might outlive the vehicle.

All joking aside, I suspect with the usage profile, the AGM battery will last 4 to 5 years...well beyond the 3 year COSTCO warranty period.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Clarios (formerly Johnson Controls) has a battery plant in China. Given the Chinese are all going to EV's - they likely have extra capacity and are shipping them over here. Would be interesting to check the batteries at Walmart now, see if any are Chinese - although to be fair to Walmart they have been on a mission to source American made over the last few years, when possible.

 

[wavinwayne]

Given that it is a Jeep Renegade produced by Stellantis with a Fiat drivetrain, odds are that the Chinese Interstate battery might outlive the vehicle.

All joking aside, I suspect with the usage profile, the AGM battery will last 4 to 5 years...well beyond the 3 year COSTCO warranty period.

I'll say this about the Jeep, it hasn't been trouble free or a disaster. Since we've had it, we've had to replace the battery, the thermostat, and the front rotors, which had developed deep grooves on the drivers side for an unknown reason. The "bones" of the vehicle feel pretty solid.

 

[Hall]

It surprises me that Costco would carry a sub-par product.

How do you know already that it's "sub-par" ? Where it's made does not 100% solely determine the quality.

 

[Hall]

Would be interesting to check the batteries at Walmart now

I bought an Everstart 24F recently (at least this year) and will check where it's from. The thought was they source them somewhat regionally, i.e. the eastern half of the US were primarily East Penn and the other half were someone else. That said, my previous one was a JCI, if I recall correctly.

Edit: Can't see a country of origin on mine but it does have a serial # starting with "EP" so I think that means it's made in Pennsylvania.

 

[Donald]

Anybody want to make bets on how long this Costco Interstate AGM (Chinese) battery will last? It was purchased/installed in January 2024. The Jeep is driven by my son, an 18 year old college student. He does around 10k miles/year, and the Jeep is driven probably 350/365 days in a year.

In the cold north 2X as long as Alabama which is where it looks like you live.

 

[Donald]

I'll say this about the Jeep, it hasn't been trouble free or a disaster. Since we've had it, we've had to replace the battery, the thermostat, and the front rotors, which had developed deep grooves on the drivers side for an unknown reason. The "bones" of the vehicle feel pretty solid.

Current production Jeeps are at the bottom of barrel with respect to reliability on Consumer Reports but people love their Jeeps.

I have had two Jeeps.

But these days you don't have some of the severe problems from years ago like cracked piston skirts that would grenade the engine or the #331 head that would crack.

 

[Donald]

I bought an Everstart 24F recently (at least this year) and will check where it's from. The thought was they source them somewhat regionally, i.e. the eastern half of the US were primarily East Penn and the other half were someone else. That said, my previous one was a JCI, if I recall correctly.

Edit: Can't see a country of origin on mine but it does have a serial # starting with "EP" so I think that means it's made in Pennsylvania.

It means East Penn. But they may may have several battery plants. Their website seems to say single site in PA but also mentions Iowa. Nothing indicating out of the country.

I try and buy only Easter Penn batteries. Not looking to save the last nickel. But if I can get an East Penn at Walmart I am OK with that.

 

[TazzySpazzy]

It surprises me that Costco would carry a sub-par product. They don't seem to be known for that, at least to me.

Just my own experience but Costco sells so much crap I would break my keyboard trying to type the list. Yes they sell lots of decent to good quality stuff but they clearly don't discriminate against garbage. Perhaps they are not known for selling sub-par products because their return policy is still so good and that prevents people from being stuck with junk which tends to keep people coming back rather than talking smack.

 

[walterjay]

East Penn is good. As a side note I was just looking at Amazon and they have an East Penn replacement battery for $771.00

 

[Hall]

East Penn is good

That tears some people up though 'cause it's a Walmart battery ! It's also less expensive and more readily available than many auto parts store options.

 

[SC Maintenance]

That tears some people up though 'cause it's a Walmart battery ! It's also less expensive and more readily available than many auto parts store options.

I have seen the EP batteries at WM in VA, but never here in South Carolina.

I do wonder if they are identical to the EP branded stuff. They could use the same case and lighten up on the lead or something, if they needed to save a buck. Walmart would be high enough volume to maybe have a different recipe. Either way there warrantied, and I seldom get more than 3 years on a battery it seems.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Trouble started when JCI spun off Clarios, and Interstate batteries went down in quality

Now the Costco Interstates seem to be even worse than non-Costco versions, the latter still not as good as they used to be.

To be more accurate, Brookside Partners purchased the battery division of JCI and rebranded it as Clarios, then purchased other battery manufacturers and added them to Clarios.

 

[CKN]

Does the vehicle have start/stop? And if it does, is there a secondary battery for the start/stop?

Vehicles battery requirements with start/ stop are speced for a given battery. It is not a " normal cold start". This has been covered over and over again on here. You cannot draw a correlation between short battery life and start/ stop.

 

[f355spider]

I see Interstate/AC Delco and west coast Walmarts are all Clarios. Country of origin is a mixture of USA, China, Mexico, Germany and Korea. So far I have a USA, Korea and German ones. All have been good so far: Korean 1 year, USA 2.5 years, and German 5.5 years. I test them every 6 months.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Car batteries have become commodities. Good/Better/Best product segments for each application, differentiated by cosmetics, brand labels and warranty terms from retailer to retailer.

The handful of the largest manufacturers will produce them in whatever factory makes the most sense to them at that point in time, whether in-house, or a joint venture, especially for a company with global reach like Clarios (remember their Saudi-made batteries from a few years back? Also joined in the past by Germany and Spain.).

A big marketing and distribution company like Interstate chooses from those suppliers for whatever applications they wish to cover; they've been a big JCI customer in the past, but now one can see the Exide and Enersys batteries in their offerings.

Retailers like Walmart and Costco do the same, by either going directly to the manufacturers, or engaging with another distributor like Costco does with Interstate.

The result can be multiple layers of middlemen, which adds to the muddiness of the waters surrounding who made/got what, from whom, etc.

The only certainty is to look at what sits on the rack in front of you, courtesy of whatever the regional distribution chain provides, at the particular point in time, because it's likely to change at some point in the future, to suit whatever the supplier can and does deliver.

 

[f355spider]

My sister worked in jewelry sales for many years. Apparently alot of name brand watches sold at Costco are considered gray market as they buy from various sellers. Super disappointing and sketchy if you ask me. I can't remember the brand but she had a customer bring in a watch purchased at Costco that Helzburg Also sold and Helzburg touch it.

There is really nothing wrong with gray market watches. They were simply made and warranted for another country...for example Brazil. Because they are sold much cheaper in Brazil, they import them and have their own Costco warranty applied. Costco no longer does this after they lost a lawsuit by Omega watches over this tactic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costco_Wholesale_Corp._v._Omega,_S._A.

 

[SC Maintenance]

There is really nothing wrong with gray market watches. They were simply made and warranted for another country...for example Brazil. Because they are sold much cheaper in Brazil, they import them and have their own Costco warranty applied. Costco no longer does this after they lost a lawsuit by Omega watches over this tactic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costco_Wholesale_Corp._v._Omega,_S._A.

I agree with you on gray market. I have purchased gray market stuff in the past. True gray market product is identical just first sold overseas at a lower cost.

Costco actually won the lawsuit you reference - sort of. It was never really decided, the supreme's were split and Omega ended up having to pay Costco's legal fees. A better case on this matter is Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. which the Supremes ruled that if you purchase something legally overseas, you own it and can resell it in the USA even if the copyright holder doesn't like it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtsaeng_v._John_Wiley_&_Sons,_Inc.

​

 

[Donald]

I have seen the EP batteries at WM in VA, but never here in South Carolina.

I do wonder if they are identical to the EP branded stuff. They could use the same case and lighten up on the lead or something, if they needed to save a buck. Walmart would be high enough volume to maybe have a different recipe. Either way there warrantied, and I seldom get more than 3 years on a battery it seems.

Well WM is big enough (revenue of $10K a second I believe) to tell any vendor to make a product to their price point/ spec. But in reality East Penn probably already has several grades of battery for each group size. Walmart just picks one for the EverStart and another for the EverStart MAXX.

 

[Nukeman7]

Well WM is big enough (revenue of $10K a second I believe) to tell any vendor to make a product to their price point/ spec. But in reality East Penn probably already has several grades of battery for each group size. Walmart just picks one for the EverStart and another for the EverStart MAXX.

Based upon the East Penn website, they currently offer 3 grades of DEKA flooded lead acid batteries: Standard, Gold & Ultimate (in ascending order). This correlates with the EverStart Value, Plus and Maxx grades sold at WalMart. I can't attest for all of the BCI Group sizes, but the common 24F size Everstart Value & Plus batteries are physically identical in construction & weight (38.7 lbs.), while the Maxx battery has more lead plates (44.4 lbs.) & 750 CCA. The Value battery has a 1 year warranty and is rated for 585 CCA, while the Plus battery has a 2 year warranty and is rated at 600 CCA. However; the 24F Value & Plus batteries both measure 650 CCA when new. Practically speaking, you are paying $40 more for the Plus battery to extend the warranty by a year. As such, I only buy the EverStart Value line batteries for my vehicles, but the wife gets the Maxx battery for peace of mind.