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Clarios has supplied EverStart batteries, according to its own SEC filings. In its IPO registration statement of July 2, 2021, Clarios wrote that it provides "private label brands to our aftermarket customers including DieHard, Interstate, Duralast, Bosch and EverStart". Its amended filing of May 31, 2024 repeats the line, and names Walmart among its long-standing aftermarket customers in the 2021 filing.
Clarios is the battery business Johnson Controls sold in 2019. Before that, Johnson Controls announced on February 3, 2010 that Walmart had chosen it as the sole source of the car, marine, powersport and lawn and garden batteries for Walmart's US and Puerto Rico stores. Exide, the previous supplier, said in its 2010 annual report that its Walmart business would be phased out between June and October 2010.
What the filings don't say: whether Clarios is EverStart's only supplier, which of its plants filled which battery, or who supplies EverStart in 2026. Details and dates below.
01What the filings and press releases say
Walmart doesn't publish its battery suppliers. Battery makers do, because a customer the size of Walmart matters to their investors. These are the records, oldest first.
| Date | Source | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 to 2020 | Walmart's annual reports (10-K) | List "Everstart" among Walmart U.S. private-label brands (the 2020 report lists it next to Equate, Great Value and Onn) |
| February 3, 2010 | Johnson Controls press release | Walmart selected Johnson Controls as "sole source provider" of its automotive, marine, powersport and lawn and garden batteries for US and Puerto Rico stores; Johnson Controls had been a Walmart supplier for more than 25 years |
| 2010 (year to March 31) | Exide Technologies 10-K | Lists Wal-Mart among major aftermarket customers, "although the Wal-Mart business is scheduled to be phased out between June and October, 2010" |
| July 2, 2021 | Clarios International S-1 (IPO filing) | "We also provide private label brands to our aftermarket customers including DieHard, Interstate, Duralast, Bosch and EverStart." Names Walmart among its aftermarket customers |
| May 31, 2024 | Clarios International S-1/A | Repeats the private-label line, with Everstart |
Read them together and the record is consistent: Johnson Controls' battery business took over Walmart's car batteries in 2010, that business became Clarios in 2019, and Clarios still listed EverStart as one of its private labels in 2024. Clarios' filings describe its own "scaled manufacturing plants" and recycling network, so "provide" here comes from a battery maker, not a distributor. The filings don't say which plants fill the EverStart business.
The 2010 release doesn't name EverStart. It covers Walmart's "battery requirements" for those categories. EverStart is the brand on Walmart's own car batteries, but the release itself names no brand.
02Who Clarios is
Clarios is the former Power Solutions business of Johnson Controls. Brookfield Business Partners, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and other investors bought it on April 30, 2019, and Clarios' financial statements call the Johnson Controls unit its predecessor company. Clarios filed to go public in 2021 and amended the filing several times through 2024; the registration statements are public on the SEC's EDGAR system.
Its own brands include VARTA, OPTIMA, LTH, Heliar, Delkor and MAC. In the same filings it lists the private labels it provides to retailers and distributors: DieHard, Interstate, Duralast, Bosch and EverStart. A private label means the retailer owns the name and the specification and contracts the production.
None of this tells you that an EverStart battery and a battery under another of those names are interchangeable. Each private label has its own specifications and price points.
03What is not known
- Who supplies EverStart in 2025 and 2026. The newest record we found is Clarios' May 2024 filing, which describes its business through its 2023 fiscal year.
- Whether Clarios is the only supplier. The 2010 press release said "sole source" for that contract. Later filings don't say whether that still holds, for every battery type (flooded, AGM, lawn and garden) or for every region.
- Which plant made a given battery. The filings describe the company, not a battery on a shelf.
Some websites name East Penn or Stryten as EverStart makers. We found no filing, press release or recall that says so. On Walmart.com, a few EverStart listings from third-party sellers give other names in the manufacturer field. Those are marketplace listings, not Walmart's own records, so we don't count them.
04How to check your own EverStart battery
- Read the label and the case. Write down the brand line, the group size and every code printed on the label or stamped into the case, including any date or part code.
- Ask the store or the warranty desk. The warranty process tracks the battery by its codes and date.
- Search recall databases by brand. CPSC (saferproducts.gov) covers chargers and jump starters, and NHTSA covers vehicle equipment. A recall notice names the manufacturer.
- Check the filings. Search EDGAR's full-text search for the brand name. That is how the Clarios line above turns up.
This is the same record trail we use to find who makes anything. Our guide on how to find a manufacturer shows it with import records, and private label vs white label explains how a retailer brand like EverStart is contracted. If you are building a product of your own, the Product Sourcing Secrets course covers how to vet and brief a contract factory.
QQuestions
Q01Who makes EverStart batteries for Walmart?
The public record points to Clarios. Its SEC filings of July 2021 and May 2024 list EverStart among the private-label brands it provides to aftermarket customers, and the 2021 filing names Walmart as a customer. We found no record naming the supplier for 2025 or 2026.
Q02Are EverStart batteries made by Johnson Controls?
Johnson Controls announced in February 2010 that Walmart had chosen it as the sole source of its car, marine, powersport and lawn and garden batteries. Johnson Controls sold that battery business in 2019, and it now operates as Clarios.
Q03Did Exide make EverStart batteries?
Exide's annual report for the year to March 2010 named Wal-Mart as a major aftermarket customer and said that business would be phased out between June and October 2010. The filing doesn't name EverStart, but it shows Exide sold batteries to Walmart before Johnson Controls took over.
Q04Are EverStart batteries made by East Penn or Interstate?
We found no public record that says so. Interstate appears in Clarios' filings as a separate private label that Clarios also provides, not as an EverStart supplier.
Q05Is EverStart a Walmart brand?
Yes. Walmart's annual reports from 2005 to 2020 list Everstart among Walmart U.S. private-label brands.
→Where to go next
- Who makes Walmart's store brands?Every Walmart category, with the public record for each.
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- Who makes HART tools?
- Who makes onn TVs?
- How to find a manufacturer
SSources
Brand connections are historical. They show that a factory has produced for a brand at some point, from US import records, a disclosure by the factory or the brand, the press, or our own supplier research. They do not mean the factory makes for the brand today, and brands do not endorse ProductGods. ProductGods is not affiliated with Walmart, EverStart, Clarios, Johnson Controls or Exide, or with any manufacturer named.
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