COVER STORY
CENTURY BATTERIES: BUILT IN AUSTRALIA, FOR AUSTRALIA For more than 90 years, Century Batteries has been designing and building its iconic blue and yellow batteries right here in Australia
The company can trace its roots all the way back to 1928, when Century Storage Battery Co Ltd opened its manufacturing facility in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria. From humble beginnings, Century produced both battery components and finished batteries for the Sydney market. The very first Century batteries were designed and built in Australia specifically to suit Australian conditions, and this is something the company is still doing almost 100 years later. By the 1960s, Century expanded its operations into Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. Not only were Century supplying original equipment (OE) batteries to Chrysler, but it was also the first company in Australia to manufacture batteries with polypropylene plastic battery cases. Up until that point, battery cases were made from vulcanised rubber – just like the tyres on your car! By the late 70s and early 80s, Century established a new manufacturing facility in Queensland – where it continues to build batteries right to this very day – and began supplying batteries to Ford, General Motors, Nissan, and Toyota. In the years which followed, Century focused on refining its battery technology and quality standards – achieving ISO 9000 and QS 9000
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Australian Automotive Aftermarket Magazine July 2021
accreditations and investing heavily in its Queensland factory. Firstly, in the 90s with the utilisation of automated strip-mill and expander-line equipment, all the way through to today with ‘Sealed Maintenance Free’ (SMF) batteries with grids built using cutting-edge Rotary Expander technology. But the manufacturing equipment and technologies are just one part of what makes Century batteries so special. An even greater advantage comes from the benefits of being able to design and then build batteries right here in Australia – in that they can be tailored specifically to suit particular applications, but also be designed to handle the harsh conditions that Australia is famous for.
A marine battery must be able to handle the repeated wave pounding of rough seas off our coastline, while a 4x4 battery needs to withstand the sweltering heat of being under-bonnet on a hot Summer’s day in some of the most remote areas of the country. This sort of refinement can only be achieved through decades of local product testing and development. The benefit of building batteries in Australia also means that Century has a more consistent supply of locally held stock throughout the year when some other battery importers might be struggling. The recent pandemic has reminded consumers about the importance of supporting Australian Made products, and Century’s network of 34 distribution centres across the country means that no matter where you are, there is a dynamic
