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How old is my Interstate car battery?
Type the date code from the Interstate label to see when it was built.
Reading a Interstate serial number
The first letter is the month and the second character is the last digit of the year the battery shipped from the factory. C5 means March of a year ending in 5.
Interstate’s guide does not say whether the letter I is skipped. Letters A to H read the same either way. For I, J, K, L and M the checker shows every month the letter could mean.
A second two-character code, branded in the cover or on a small round label, is a recharge date from the distributor, not the build date.
About Interstate
- Interstate started in 1952, when John Searcy began shipping batteries from Dallas to accounts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
- Interstate sells through distributors and dealers, and opened its first Interstate All Battery Center franchise store in 2000.
Source: History | Interstate Batteries
Month letter and year digit, engraved in the cover
Used about 2004 to today. Example: C5XYZ
A four- or five-character code is engraved in the top cover near a corner. The first letter is the month and the second character is the last digit of the year the battery shipped. C5 means March of a year ending in 5.
Worked example: C5XYZ fits March 2015 or March 2025. The page above explains how to tell which.
| Letter | Month |
|---|---|
| A | January |
| B | February |
| C | March |
| D | April |
| E | May |
| F | June |
| G | July |
| H | August |
Sources: Interstate Batteries, via Bumper to Bumper Radio: how old is my battery, Car Battery FAQ, quoting Interstate (archived)