SpiralCell Technology was first developed by General Electric in the 1960s, when the company won the contract to develop lunar rovers for the moon missions.  The SpiralCell invention and parts of General Electric's battery division were later purchased by a large, privately owned group in the United States named Gates Industries.

Gates invested about USD 15 million developing and introducing SpiralCell technology in starter batteries for passenger cars. Several years of further development and product refinement culminated in the launch of the Optima 650 in 1988.

Following the release of the original cutting-edge Optima battery, SpiralCell technology continued to be perfected until the battery and its patent on SpiralCell Technology was purchased by the Norwegian Company Gylling Teknikk A/S in 1992. The exceptional performance of this new battery quickly became apparent to the Gylling group and its customers, who included the Norwegian armed forces. 

Optima batteries were also tested by Bofors and LKAB in large mining equipment. Thorough tests and feedback from sales of about 20,000 batteries found the starting capacity and power to be far superior to anything else on the market. Realising the potential of this new technology, the Gylling group founded the companies Optima Batteries AB, in Sweden, and Optima Batteries Inc., in the United States. 

The newly formed Optima companies penetrated the battery market and investigated conditions for battery manufacture across numerous industries, whilst continuing research and further development of SpiralCell Technology.

This work led to the completion of an ultramodern production facility in Aurora, outside Denver, Colorado, in 1995 and a portfolio of products, which covered three different battery families for various professional segments of the market.

In November 2000, Johnson Controls Inc purchased Optima Batteries Inc from the Gylling group.

Today, Optima Batteries have evolved to become the market leaders for electrochemical power for many applications, ranging from Heavy Plant Machinery, Agricultural Equipment and Commercial Marine through to Classic Cars, ICE, Wheel chairs and golf buggies.

Please see the Applications section of this website for a guide on which batteries suit specific uses.

For further technical details regarding SpiralCell Technology and the components of Optima Batteries, please see the Technical section of this website.