France in Focus

Yesterday came suddenly. This Lucas battery reached the age of only four years and eleven months. Deep cycling resulted in an error message on the display of my charger. Replaced with a Varta Blue Dynamic.

Didn't Lucas make headlights ? Your battery doesn't seem to have lasted long I've no idea what the life of car batteries is today, but I know we never had to change the ones on our Landcruiser in the 16 years we had it. Just as well, they'd have cost a fortune to replace ...
We once had a dud on our tractor but it was replaced under guarantee.
How long is the life expectation of an electric car battery ?

The battery on my 21 year old Picasso remained strong and turned the engine over 1st time every time. A few weeks before my husband died, he insisted I got it changed because he was worried about me being stranded if it suddenly stopped working. The new battery has not always turned over the engine 1st time. Typical.

Yuasa Corporation bought a 50% share in Lucas Batteries Ltd in 1988, forming Lucas-Yuasa Batteries Ltd. Yuasa bought the remaining 50% of Lucas Batteries in 1997, forming Yuasa Automotive Batteries Europe Ltd which marketed automotive batteries under Lucas and other names until 2006, when Yuasa began marketing automotive batteries in Europe under their own name.

The Lucas brand ownership has changed several times since 1996 and batteries have been rebadged.

The Lucas brand is currently owned by the Lucas Electrical Limited, which is based in the United Kingdom. Lucas Electrical Limited is a subsidiary of the TVS Motor Company Limited, which is a multinational corporation based in India.

The battery on OH's car was getting a bit weak and pretty much knackered in winter so I replaced it and left it in the workshop to use for testing 12v stuff and tinkering generally. When I got my replacement van (for my beloved Transit) the seller said it was a bit hard to start and needed a new battery. I found that was the case and just popped in the old one from the workshop until I could afford something new. That was about three years ago. The van starts very easily now even in sub zero weather. I don't know why but possibly because while the battery was kept on the shelf I used to keep it in good condition with a clever but inexpensive Chinese charger. Just connect it and it assesses the battery condition and either charges up to maybe 8 amps or just a trickle. It also has a "conditioning" mode that will blast it with an over-voltage to boil off any sulphation coating from the plates. We don't do a lot of mileage these days and it is more and more just a 15 minute drive into town for supplies every two weeks.

Elsie Way back, Joseph Lucas used to be known as "The Prince of Darkness" among bikers, such was the reliability of Lucas components, bulbs, dynamos, magnetos, etc.

I remember when they adopted the new logo which features a stylized "L" and "ucas" in green and white letters. The joke goes that the green part of the logo represents the company's past success and the white part represents the company's future success. But when you put the two together, it looks like the company is sliding backwards

elsie wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 10:40 am The Lucas brand is currently owned by the Lucas Electrical Limited, which is based in the United Kingdom. Lucas Electrical Limited is a subsidiary of the TVS Motor Company Limited, which is a multinational corporation based in India.

How things have changed in the UK. During the Summer of 1958 I worked as a vacation apprentice for Rotax, a subsidary of Lucas, making major electrical equipment for the aircraft industry. It was definitely not sliding backwards then.

Changing ownership, who owns who, who produces what & where, who is responsible for the quality control. No rising expectations here after I came across this information on the internet:

"The Lucas trademark is owned by TRW automotive and further sublicensed to battery manufacturers for a set period of manufacture. Numax currently hold the licence to produce batteries branded as Lucas."

One of the several internet sources. And another one, a fast changing landscape?

Varta is still Varta, their production facilities have a global footprint. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

RobertArthur wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 10:21 pm Yesterday came suddenly. This Lucas battery reached the age of only four years and eleven months. Deep recycling resulted in an error message on the display of my charger. Replaced with a Varta Blue Dynamic.

Not a stop-start version? Those batteries are getting close to €200 and need resetting on the dealer's computer.

Not only that, you need a special charger - the hand-me-down jobbies we all have in our sheds ought not to be used.

I have to say I always turn off stop start when driving - but better not to have it at all.