“I noticed the battery when I first bought the car,” Pat Wilkinson said of his 2003 purchase. The battery looked okay, but he wasn’t able to determine the battery’s age. The battery cranked reliably through nine frigid Massachusetts winters – that he knows of. It was only recently he needed to give it a jump during a chilly morning, but “I’ve never had a battery that’s lasted that long,” he said.

Looking good for a 9-year-old.

Pat’s had several antiques and classics over the years, but his Model J Grand Prix has been a diamond in the rough. He’s protected it from the elements with a car cover and tarp and starting it up once a week. In an email, Pat wrote, “Thank you for an awesome battery STILL CRANKING whenever I start my classic beauty.”

You’re welcome, Pat. Give her a spin for us.

Need a new car battery? Find an Interstate Batteries dealer at interstatebatteries.com.

Related articles

• Customer Loves His “Zombie” Interstate Battery (blogbattery.com)
• Surprise! It’s Spring – Mild Winter Means Go Fishing (blogbattery.com)

The 700 Club (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Interstate Batteries® Chairman Norm Miller appeared on the 700 Club with Pat Robertson this morning to discuss his faith journey and his support of the I Am Second movement. As always, Norm is a great storyteller. If you haven’t heard Norm’s story, please take a few minutes to watch this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAUenHcss_Q

Scott Miller, Senior Vice President, Independent Distributor Group, Interstate Batteries. (Photo by Jake Dean/Dallas Business Journal)

Scott is the son of Interstate’s Chairman Norm Miller, and he’s worked hard his entire career at Interstate. As a teenager, he swept floors in one of our warehouses and became a route sales manager after college.

On his relationship with his father and how it affected his career, Scott said:

“Every move that I’ve made, up until the last few moves, was my move. Norm got me my first job at Interstate, but he’s never played an active role in my movement or progression. It doesn’t mean he’s not interested.”

Read more of the interview on the DBJ’s website: Scott Miller Climbed the Ladder at Interstate Batteries

Related articles

• Franchise Business Review Interviews Interstate All Battery Center SVP Scott Miller (allbatteryfranchise.com)
• Career Opportunity: Market General Manager (blogbattery.com)
• KRLD CEO Spotlight Features Carlos Sepulveda (blogbattery.com)

Carlos Sepulveda, President & CEO of Interstate Batteries

Radio station KRLD-AM in Dallas-Fort Worth recently featured Interstate Batteries President & CEO Carlos Sepulveda in its CEO Spotlight. The segment, hosted by David Johnson, features CEO interviews from successful companies such as Southwest Airlines, Pizza Inn Holdings and MoneyGram.

In the interview, Carlos discusses electric vehicles and the future of the battery market.

“Electric vehicles have been talked about for many years and now they are becoming more of a reality,” he said.

He also mentions how Interstate has Dealer and Distributor locations all over the country and how success is not entirely about Interstate’s size but about how team members work together to generate opportunities that are rewarding, profitable and growth-oriented.

“Our brand is to be Outrageously Dependable® and that is our goal,” Sepulveda said. “The battery itself will not be that but the people around the product will be.”

Listen to the interview now: Interstate Batteries CEO Carlos Sepulveda on KRLD’s CEO Spotlight

John Hendrickson stands by his converted VW Beetle. (Photo by Diana North for the Houston Chronicle)

If you find yourself driving around Houston, be on the lookout for a bright green Volkswagen Beetle. It’s probably the quietest Beetle in the city.

Retired NASA engineer John Hendrickson converted an old 1972 Beetle to electric power with help from Randy Risner, the Manager of Interstate Battery System of Houston. Hendrickson tells the Houston Chronicle that Risner provided 12 gel-cell batteries for the conversion in exchange for some advertising decals. Hendrickson says the car gets about 50 miles per charge.

Read more about the NASA retiree’s electric Volkswagen on the Houston Chronicle’s website.

For serious holiday shoppers, Thanksgiving has been followed by Black Friday, the kick-start for the holiday shopping season. Interstate Batteries now introduces “Green Saturday” to that weekend.

Shoppers can “go green” with their shopping on Green Saturday, Nov. 26, by bringing in old batteries to participating Interstate All Battery Centers for proper recycling. Customers who return old batteries on Green Saturday will have a donation made in their honor to Toys for Tots. In addition, participants receive a 30 percent discount on any new rechargeable products that day for all those new electronic gifts bought on Black Friday.

“Reaching out to our communities is an important part of what we do at Interstate Batteries, especially during the holiday season,” said Scott Miller, Interstate All Battery Center senior vice president. “Recycling is also an important part of what we do, and we are bringing those two missions together with Green Saturday.”

Interstate Batteries is the No. 1 automotive battery recycler in the U.S., recycling more than 850 million pounds of batteries last year alone. Interstate takes great care in handling the disposal of lead-acid batteries, which is strictly regulated by federal and state legislation, in an environmentally friendly way.

“It is important for all of us to be environmentally friendly when disposing of old batteries,” Miller said. “Green Saturday provides a convenient opportunity for our customers to focus on a single day for recycling old batteries and, at the same time, help put a smile on the face of a kid through the wonderful work our friends at Toys for Tots are doing across America.”

Interstate Batteries Green Saturday provides resources to Toys for Tots to help less fortunate children throughout the United States experience the joy of the holiday season.

Participating Locations:

Interstate Batteries CEO Carlos Sepulveda tells Smart Business that conflict can be good

This month’s issue of the Smart Business Dallas edition profiles CEO Carlos Sepulveda and how Interstate Batteries® embraces conflict to clearly discern what opportunities ought to be pursued. And by doing just that, Interstate has grown its numbers, both in revenues and total employees.

So what do you get when you add the best people, open meetings and straight talk all together? A company well on its way to embracing market reality and growing market share one conflict at a time.

Sepulveda also shares one simple belief underpinning his pursuit to deliver maximum value:  “ … it’s about sharpening the ax – not swinging the ax harder.”

Read the Smart Business article now.

A group of Interstate Batteries® team members assembled in July for a 57-mile bike ride in Boone, Iowa. For most of us, the term “RAGBRAI” does not ring a bell, but in Iowa, the weeklong bike ride is a statewide tradition. Started in 1973, the Register Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa draws thousands of cyclists worldwide to ride from Iowa’s western border to the eastern border of the Mississippi River.

This year, Interstate team members Carlos Sepulveda, Chris Willis, Jon Simkins, Alan Vuckovich, Brian Weber, Rhonda Weber, Chad Marchant, Vince Wilson, and Ames, Iowa All Battery Center® franchisees Matt and Nancy Breen joined the cycling masses sporting Interstate green. Sepulveda likened the herd of riders to a running river, everyone moving together as one.

RAGBRAI began with two journalists as a bicycle ride across Iowa to learn more about Iowa’s landscape. Today, thousands join annually appreciating the scenery and participating in the daily events. The host cities change yearly, but the ideals remain the same. Give people the chance to experience the best Iowa has to offer in a unique way. For team members, the RAGBRAI was a chance to grow closer doing something they enjoy: cycling.

Unlike the fast-paced NASCAR races in which Interstate normally participates, the RAGBRAI emphasizes the “ride.” While traveling, a myriad of shops, carts, and vendors prepare goods for not only the cyclists, but the spectators as well. Most days rides end with food, music and activities. The cyclists enjoyed the lively atmosphere and the abundance of good food while traveling from Boone to Altoona, Iowa. Simkins explains the vendors often move with the race. “If you miss a vendor one day, you can normally find them the next,” but for some annual vendors the line would be up to a quarter-mile long.

Although the RAGBRAI is a weeklong event, many riders, like our Interstate team, only participate in a few days. Enrollment closes at 10,000 riders per day for safety reasons, but by unofficial estimates, nearly 20,000 cyclists participate each day of the ride. Each year officials choose a new route to cross Iowa, and each year the ride draws more people. This year’s riders are excited about the possibility of it becoming an annual event for Interstate, and like the RAGBRAI itself, the team member participation increasing as well.

Rambow, store manager and salesman for Interstate All Battery Center of Upland, Calif., will appear on ABC’s Wipeout Tuesday, Aug 2. He’s one of the three finalists on the episode, but he can’t reveal the results because of contractual obligations.

“It was my friend’s idea to audition,” Rambow said. “I didn’t really want to do it because I’ve seen what goes on in that show. But we went to their open casting call and got to meet people from all over the country who came in just to audition.”

Wipeout features several zany, over-the-top obstacle courses surrounded by water, mud and messy food items. Some of the offbeat obstacles include “Sucker Punch,” “Big Balls,” the “Sweeper,” the “Dreadmill” and the “Wipeout Zone.” Each episode begins with 24 contestants, and the winner earns $50,000.

“The show was very fun, but very dangerous,” Rambow said. “One woman broke her leg, and another got her clothing caught in one of the machines under the water. They have divers and paramedics that you don’t see on TV, but they’re right there on the outside in case something happens.”

His appearance on the show doesn’t surprise his father-in-law, Larry Burke, the Upland store’s franchisee.

“Tim has the ability to talk to anyone on just about any subject and is comfortable doing so, which has proved very effective in ABC sales,” Burke said. “We are all very excited about his upcoming episode.”

Rambow says the show’s theme is construction, but he’s not sure how his job in battery sales will fit into the theme. He was interviewed for a few minutes about his job, so there may be a few battery questions that make it on the air.

He said he underestimated how much the obstacle courses would beat him up. He was a high school quarterback and thought he had taken some big hits then, but the Wipeout competition was even harder.

“It really left some lasting impressions on him physically,” Burke said.

How will Rambow fare in the untamed jungle of a wet and wild Southern California soundstage? Tune in 7 p.m. Tuesday Central to find out. And if you’re curious what it’s like behind the scenes of a Wipeout audition, watch the video below. Rambow is the applicant in fatigues.