Charge of the CTEK brigade

To be frank about it, you don’t get a more compelling argument for getting a battery charger than learning it can double your car battery’s life. Yes, double — at least.

Still, that’s just the start of the Robert Brigg’s pitch. As CTEK director of sales and marketing for Asia Pacific. The company “develops and manufactures battery chargers for all types of lead-acid batteries for both private and professional use.” Briggs says that from “a little office in Sweden” of 39 employees, the company develops and distributes an impressive array of products to 62 countries across the globe.

It might as well be the little company that could. Thirteen years ago, the firm sold but 12 chargers. Briggs reports that last year CTEK moved 1.4 million units. “We are very small, but we are very much a leader in wireless charging technology. This year alone, we will spend $25 million in new technology.”

Pushing the envelope is something that CTEK seems to relish. Briggs tells that next month, the company is set to unveil a feature that will let the charger “wirelessly talk to your smartphone.” The user will be notified via app when his or her car battery dips below 12 volts. “We’re the first company to do that,” he declares. “We just keep developing to meet today’s standards and the need of new vehicles.”

Premium auto brands such as Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Bentley, MINI, and their ilk have taken notice, and have asked CTEK to develop chargers tuned to their specific use. “They send us their batteries, and we work out the algorithms at what they should charge their batteries at,” Briggs explains. Presently, 42 brands in total have enlisted CTEK’s help.

Ranged against some of the world’s biggest brands, sales figures and partner reputations speak volumes on the kind of quality and benefits of CTEK’s products — along with the aforementioned passion for pushing and evolving its technologies in pace with the changing automotive scene. Just for good measure, according to its website, CTEK has “won more than 15 independent battery charger tests since 2005.” Asserts Briggs: “We never apply for any of these awards. People buy our products, write about them, and do reports.”

Still, a large part of CTEK’s task, says its marketing man, is enlightening the public on why they need a battery charger to begin with. “Most people wake up in the morning, start their car, and say: ‘My battery’s perfect,’” Briggs declares. “Is it? It’s not, I can assure you.” When Briggs picked up his brand-new luxury car recently, he decided to hook it up to a meter to check on the battery condition. “The car battery was half flat!” he reports, and says this illustrates the obvious need for a charger.

Furthermore, Briggs maintains that your car’s alternator can only charge your battery to a maximum of no more than 87 percent. And the key to prolonging its life, says Briggs, is bringing that rate up to 100 percent.

As you might have correctly guessed, the road towards a fully charged battery is not as simple as delivering the highest amount of current and voltage it can take. CTEK actually features an eight-step process of charging — highlighted by a desulfation stage. Sulfation, if you’re wondering, is a natural process that occurs in all lead batteries where sulfate crystals form on the battery plates. This decreases their ability to hold a charge. Naturally, desulfation breaks down these crystals. “Desulfation is one of the biggest cases for battery damage,” underscores Briggs.

The CTEK charger then ascertains the battery condition and if it can take the charge. If yes, then it charges up to 80 percent at a peak rating of 15.8 volts. The remaining 20 percent is put in (but Briggs stresses this is not “trickle” charging) at lower values. Making “good battery hygiene” a part of your ritual means charging every month — although a weekly session would be great.

By CTEK’s reckoning, some 400 million lead-acid batteries are made around the world each year. Imagine if each of these were regularly charged. Yes, that’s a whole lot of batteries saved — redounding not just in monetary savings but even in terms of raw-material sourcing. Yes, chargers are ultimately good for Mother Nature.

The firm sees Asia Pacific as the “biggest growth market in the world,” shares Briggs, and adds that part of CTEK’s goal is reach the top spot in the US. Currently, it is already the market leader in Germany, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand.

Again, it goes back to a simple promise: “I guarantee you that if you use our chargers on a monthly basis, we would double the life of your battery,” Briggs vows. Everything else beyond that is icing.

CTEK products are distributed in the Philippines by Waido Marketing and Distribution, Inc. For more information, like CTEK Philippines at www.facebook.com/CTEK.Ph.

CTEK director of APAC sales and marketing Robert Briggs poses with Edbert Tiu of Waido Marketing and Distribution, Inc.