Napa Batteries: Who Are the Real Manufacturers?

Napa is known in the automotive industry to have some of the best batteries. They have made a name for themselves, making durable, quality auto parts and batteries for decades. Here will look at how Napa came to be, what makes their batteries stand out from the rest, and who makes batteries for NAPA.

Carlyle Fraser and other automotive dealers in Detroit created the National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA.) Their goal was to become the leading parts supplier to anyone owning cars or trucks. At the time, these businesses were owned independently.

Who Makes Napa Batteries

Fraser, who owned Genuine Parts Company, began to acquire these businesses one by one.

By 2012, Genuine Parts company was the only business left standing from the NAPA partnership started in 1925. He branded NAPA and today has 1,142 NAPA stores out of the 6,000 NAPA parts stores in the US.

NAPA operates 15,000 Napa Auto Care centers plus another 1,000 NAPA Collision Centers and sells over half a million parts.

DEKA, a battery manufacturer, currently makes and ships the batteries sold under the NAPA brand and has been doing so since 2009. Napa continues to offer its 36-month warranty, but the warranty only covers the workmanship and defective batteries within this warranty.

The Easy Penn Manufacturing Co., out of Lyon Station, Pennsylvania, has been in business for over 60 years. East Penn is the number one maker of absorbed mat glass, anti-gel, and lead-acid batteries. They have been making DEKA batteries for decades and started manufacturing batteries for Duracell in 2012.

East Penn makes battery solutions for anything that uses a battery, as well as battery accessories, wires, and cables. They are currently working on improving Railway signal batteries and renewable energy sources.

Batteries, Batteries, and More Batteries

While Napa is most known for its 12V automotive batteries for trucks, SUVs, and cars, they also create batteries for their lawn tractors, grass-cutting mowers, sports and leisure vehicles, and watercraft.

• Riding lawn mowers and tractors

Napa mower and golf cart batteries are miniature in size at 10V but offer the same high quality as the automotive sector NAPA batteries.

• Batteries for sports vehicles, snow, and marine toys

As with the lawn tractor batteries, NAPA distributes OEM-quality batteries for motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, and jet skis.

• Car, SUV, and truck batteries

In the family vehicle sector, Napa has three battery options. They sell self-contained batteries to prevent leaking, magnificent electrical energy, and technology to prevent damage from vibration.

Choosing Your Battery

If you’ve never bought a Napa battery before, a few things will be helpful to know before you shop.

• Moving the battery – Napa batteries are a hefty 20 pounds. The company equips each battery with handles, so they are easier and safer to move and remove from the vehicle.
• Battery warranties – Each NAPA battery has a free replacement warranty based on manufacturer defects and workmanship. The warranty doesn’t cover everyday use, or wear and tear. Each battery is warranted for a specific period. The period differs between the regular and premium choices.

Napa offers a terrific warranty, and if the battery dies before it should, you won’t get a replacement, but they pro-rate the time left on the battery as a discounted percent on a new one.

• Battery power in an emergency – While NAPA calls this reserve capacity, it comes down to having power in an emergency if the alternator isn’t working as it should. With NAPA’S lowest-price battery, you get 90 minutes of emergency power for heat or getting to a safer spot if in a remote area. The better quality battery you purchase, the more reserve capacity, up to 380 minutes, with the best battery they make.
• 1 Hour’s worth of energy – The battery industry rates by the battery’s life and its power in Amp Hours. So a battery with 6Ah (AmpHour), you would get 3 amps in 2 hours. 1 Amp hour equals one hour of power. The catch is if your car needs 10Amp Hours to run, you have to buy a battery with a 10 Amp Hour rating. You can’t use a battery offering fewer Amp Hours. Doing so will drain the battery and could damage your alternator. Your best bet is to get a battery with the same Ah rating. A battery with higher Ah charges the battery slower than the car needs.

NAPA has Ah down to a science offering more than adequate Ah on batteries with ones for all vehicle needs.

• Battery Life – A battery’s life depends on many things. The two major factors are how you care for the battery and vehicle needs. NAPA offers batteries with a life of 3 – 5 years under normal conditions.
• Maintenance-free to low maintenance – Some batteries need added water to remain charged. Maintenance-free batteries are sealed so they don’t need water, the low-maintenance batteries need water.
• How the battery starts in extreme temps – Living in areas with extreme temperatures affects the battery. Cold-crank amps give the battery the boost needed to start your vehicle in extreme temperatures. NAPA batteries are known for their high cold-crank amps and perform superbly in these extreme temperatures.

You may pay a bit more for NAPA batteries, but the superior performance of their batteries saves you maintenance and they last longer than most batteries.

Battery Recycling

Today’s batteries are recyclable. Some places will pay for your old batteries, but NAPA doesn’t. They do accept batteries at their parts stores and Auto Care centers for reconditioning.

NAPA battery offerings

Napa Legendend Battery – This is the perfect battery if you have many car accessories. It has all the great features NAPA offers with extended capacity reserve, incredible starting power, and last longer than most batteries. Unfortunately, it can’t be used in every vehicle.

NAPA Legend Premium AGM battery – This is a Maintainance-free battery. It has vibration resistance and does well in all climates. It offers the quickest recharging time of all the NAPA batteries and the usual battery offerings, plus it has superb starting power and is the most durable battery they make. This is also the most expensive battery NAPA has.

NAPA Power Battery – The battery comes with all the standard battery options NAPA offers. It is the least expensive battery NAPA sells and is maintenance-free, which is out of the ordinary for an affordable battery. Easily affordable and installed, it can be used in most vehicles and has a decent reserve capacity. This is the battery if you want a long-lasting, reasonably priced battery. The only complaint about the battery from buyers is that the battery doesn’t last as long as advertised. With proper maintenance, you can extend the battery life.