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There are three major battery brands in the world today: Energizer, Rayovac and Duracell. All three are major corporations with sales in the billions of dollars. They are worldwide, well-known and trusted brands. Below is short look at the history of each company and its current status.
Energizer
The National Carbon Company introduced the first battery for home use in the late 19th century. The "Columbia" device was used to power another relatively new invention: the telephone.
By 1914, it had acquired American Ever Ready, a leading battery company. In 1917, the company merged with Union Carbide and soon introduced the enormously popular Eveready battery brand. Eveready was the first to offer alkaline batteries to consumers in the late 1950s and continued to cement its reputation as the premier battery company in the world. Duracell and Rayovac made strides against the leader, but Eveready never lost its position in the industry.
Ralston Purina purchased the company in 1984 and today the Energizer brand has replaced the old Eveready name, but maintained the leadership position. In April 2000, Ralston Purina spun off Energizer as its own company. In 2003, Energizer bought the Schick-Wilkinson Sword shaving product business. Today, Energizer trades on the New York Stock Exchange and reported over $2.2 billion in sales in 2003.
Duracell
Phillip Rogers Mallory, the owner of the PR Mallory Company, teamed with Samuel Ruben in the 1920s to create innovative battery products. In 1964, the Mallory Battery Company, as it came to be known during World War II, introduced the Duracell brand – the first highly successful alkaline battery. The company continued to produce standard batteries under the Mallory label for some time while also selling the more expensive, but longer lasting Duracell alkaline type.
In 1980, five years after Mallory’s death, the company changed its name to Duracell International. It continued to improve its product line by incorporating features like the “Power Check” element (which gives the user an idea of how much power was left in the cell) and expiration dates. In 1996, Duracell merged with Gillette.
Today, Duracell is the second largest battery company in the world. Its parent company announced Duracell’s sales hit $2.02 billion in 2003.
Rayovac
Rayovac Corporation was founded in 1906 as the French Battery Company, changing its name in the mid-1930s to Rayovac. It has been described as a “sleepy”, family- run business for its first 90 or so years of existence. But, then the Thomas H. Lee Partners bought it and brought in David A. Jones.
Jones engineered an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in 1997 and the company made several acquisitions, most notably Remington in 2003. This activity, coupled with a hugely successful worldwide marketing program has resulted in a 900% increase in revenue since 1996. With 2003 sales of just under $1 billion, it remains the third largest battery company in the world.
Other Battery Manufacturers
There are other battery companies out there. Panasonic, Kodak and Sony all have their own battery line for use in their products. There are many smaller companies as well, specializing in niche markets and specialized uses.
The Future of Batteries
What will replace batteries in the future? There have been a lot of technologies suggested, including some that incorporate things like mud, bugs and garbage. Certainly fuel cells represent a promising technology, with the promise of powering a device like a laptop computer for days. In fact, we believe they will eventually replace batteries.
Still, it must be remembered that the future replacement technology, whatever it is, will replace a very well-known and trusted device. Whatever replaces batteries must meet several criteria in order to be accepted in the marketplace:
It will have to be economical; consumers are used to spending a certain amount on batteries to power their devices. We spoke with a high-level representative of one of the three major battery companies who told us that the consumer today would not spend $20 on a battery – even if the battery lasted 10 times longer than, say, a $5 battery. Why? Because the market is mature, established and conditioned. Even though it might make perfect economic sense to do so, we have been conditioned -- through generations of experience -- to not spend that kind of cash for a battery.
It will have to be technologically benign; for example, with fuel cell technology, the consumer must add fuel to a fuel cell to make it work. How will the consumer feel about the extra effort? Simply put, it must be worth the result. The same is true with batteries: if any extra effort is required on the part of the consumer, it had better be easy to do and worth the benefit.
It will have to have some major advantage; we’re talking about replacing a trusted technology that people have long grown comfortable with. They won't change products without the promise of a major advantage.
As we discussed, fuel cells might be the answer (and we believe that eventually they will replace batteries); but for the immediate and foreseeable future, batteries will remain the dominant small, portable power technology.
