BATTERIES-WHICH IS BEST-the answer!

[grober]

After Malcolms's recent battery incident I was trawling the various manufacturer sites and happened to come across a few facts. It would appear that Bosch battery division and VARTA have had a joint venture in battery manufacture since the early 90's and that the old Bosch Silver range and the VARTA blue dynamic were essentially the same battery. The share holding was 80/20 VARTA/BOSCH and this was maintained after the 2002 Varta takeover by the American company JOHNSTON CONTROLS INTERNATIONAL. http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/m2939_en.pdf They had earlier dipped a toe in European waters with their acquisition of Hoppecke batteries (another Mercedes OEM) and the Swedish Gylling OPTIMA Batteries AB. So it looks as if Bosch and VARTA technologically produce essentially the same range of batteries. Don't really know if this monopoly is a good thing or not for the European consumer in the long run but certainly casts a new light on the old bosch v varta arguments.

 

[television]

Thanks for that Graeme. That info would certainly fit as Varta is the only one that do the AGM for mine.
Banner is a newish name too and they claim to be OE to MB

When I lived in Sweden the OPTIMA brand was freely available in all stores and we used them in all of the OB units

 

[hawk20]

Don't really know if this monopoly is a good thing or not for the European consumer in the long run but certainly casts a new light on the old bosch v varta arguments.

Useful posting but just like to take up this quoted part of it. Not really a monopoly (which means a sole producer) as there are quite a lot of other European manufacturers and quite a lot of imports (up to half of many European country's markets are met by imports). EU looked at this merger and concluded it was not against consumers' interests.

 

[IanA2]

I needed a new battery when I had the 500 serviced the other day. Bosch, under £100, and a three year warranty, not bad.

 

[280gee]

Love this forum!

Just had to replace an Exide battery on the W460 (after 7 years) and looking around I notice that there are quite a number of battery labellers or branders out there and I suspect that the point of origin for many brand names is the same. I've used Banner brand stationary batteries for solar system storage. There was a time when I wouldn't have but the quality these days is fine. Very much a case of buyer beware I think and sharing knowledge can really help.

 

[nickcc101]

I needed a new battery when I had the 500 serviced the other day. Bosch, under £100, and a three year warranty, not bad.

Bought Bosch 100 amp from ATS £89 fitted with 4 year warranty.

 

[grober]

Useful posting but just like to take up this quoted part of it. Not really a monopoly (which means a sole producer) as there are quite a lot of other European manufacturers and quite a lot of imports (up to half of many European country's markets are met by imports). EU looked at this merger and concluded it was not against consumers' interests.

Good point I should have expressed it better. Its not a monopoly as you say but does pertain in particular to Mercedes OEM SUPPLIERS so thought it was worth mentioning on the forum. Incidentally was checking out a replacement battery for a 1999 XJ V8 Sovreign a couple of days back. Guess the manufacturer of the factory fit JAGUAR branded battery---VARTA. In the course of this I discovered that both Bosch and Varta are revising their battery range http://www.boschautoparts.co.uk/pfDeta.asp?id=104
http://www.varta-automotive.com/eng...utad/html/news_detail.php?site=&id=21&lang=en
VARTA with its silver,blue,black ranges
and Bosch with its S3, S4,S5 ranges EERILY similar don't you think.

The result of this appears to be a reduction in the number of battery sizes/ratings available. The higher performance of modern batteries with their greater cold current cranking figures appears to be leading to a reduction in recommmended battery size ( in terms of AMP HOURS anyway)
In the case of the V8 Jag I quoted the original battery rated at 90Ah 680A ccc being replaced [according to Varta] by a 77Ah 780 ccc one

This may mean in the future that folks replacing their batteries may have to adjust their battery specifications from the original factory ratings. Just something to be aware of.