Exide Technologies Announces China Joint Venture with Shenyang Dongbei Storage Battery Co.

         Exide CEO Robert A. Lutz Helps Announce Company's First-Ever
         Local-Production Venture in the People's Republic of China;
      Discusses Exide's Strategy for Global Business Expansion in China

    BEIJING, July 10 Exide Technologies , the global
leader in stored electrical energy solutions, and Shenyang Dongbei Storage
Battery Co. Ltd., one of the largest battery companies in China, today
announced that they have received official Chinese government approval to
begin immediately operating their new joint venture, Exide Shenyang Industrial
Battery Co. Ltd., to be located in the city of Shenyang, China.  The
two partners held a ceremony today in Beijing officially inaugurating business
activity of the joint venture.  This marks Exide Technologies' first step into
mainland China in terms of local manufacturing.  The joint venture, which is
65-percent owned by Exide Technologies, is currently projected to involve a
total investment of $25 million over the next five years, with an estimated
production of 100,000 medium and large network-power batteries in the first
year, growing to 300,000 within the first five years.
    Building on the company's strong 15-year history of doing business in
China, the joint venture will allow Exide Technologies to locally manufacture
and market a range of advanced valve-regulated lead-acid-technology batteries
for network-power applications in China, under Exide's premium brand-name
portfolio for the upper-end market and under the Dongbei brand name for the
Chinese mass market.  Exide Technologies already is a leading supplier of
products and services for critical power-supply requirements across several
Chinese industries, including key segments such as telecommunications, public
utilities and electrical power generation and distribution.  Exide
Technologies' customers in the PRC include China Telecom, China Mobile, China
Netcom, data centers of the Bank of China and power utilities customers
throughout China.
    "Exide Technologies is now better positioned to capitalize on the
explosive growth in China's network-power market," said Robert A. Lutz,
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Exide Technologies.  "This partnership
will enable us to more fully serve the needs of what is already the
third-largest market in the world for electrical storage products, a market
that is expected to continue to grow by leaps and bounds in the future.
Importantly, this step -- including a two-brand strategy (one for the upper
market and one for the mass market) -- will also allow us to develop specific
solutions for local needs.  Reliable power has become an essential component
of life in modern China, just as it is in the rest of the world, and the need
for related equipment is growing faster here than anywhere else.  This move
forward opens extraordinary opportunities for our products and services."
    Mr. Fu Hui, Chairman and General Manager of Shenyang Dongbei Storage
Battery Co. Ltd., said, "This joint venture is a significant step forward in
producing electrical storage solutions of the highest quality for the Chinese
market.  We have done business with Exide Technologies since 1986, in the form
of a technical licensing partnership, and we believe that their advanced
valve-regulated designs are not only world class, but also the most suitable
offering for China's challenging operating conditions.  Both partners and,
more importantly, many customers as well as people in remote locations in
China will benefit from our combination of superior technological and service
capabilities."
    As part of its global strategy, Exide Technologies has built up a
significant presence in China over fifteen years through sales and
partnerships.  Its local partnerships have enabled the company to offer the
world's most comprehensive portfolio of electrical energy storage technologies
and products to China.  "Our global coverage continues to be second to none in
the industry," noted Lutz.  "Throughout the world, we are further
strengthening our partnerships and localizing our operations to expand in
markets where there is clear opportunity."
    Exide Technologies, which is the largest battery company in the world in
terms of revenues, established its first contractual business relationship in
China in 1986 when one of its German operations, Hagen AG, sold a license to
Shenyang Storage Battery Company, the predecessor of Exide's new JV partner.
Since 1988, GNB Technologies Inc., which Exide acquired last year, has had a
strong market presence in China, especially in its Absolyte(R)-brand
absorbed-glass-mat technology, which has been used widely in many nationwide
telecom projects in China.  Over the years, Exide Technologies' advanced gel
technology, sold under the Sonnenschein(R) brand, has also earned a reputation
throughout China for high quality and reliability, especially in the telecom
and power-supply and power-generation industries.
    Exide Technologies' strategy in China includes capitalizing on the rapid
growth in China's wireless communications (China will have the world's largest
number of mobile phone users by the end of 2001), Internet and e-commerce
sectors, as well as in critical operations such as data centers, industrial
controls and other uninterruptible power supply (UPS) markets.  A pioneer in
developing innovative electrical energy storage technologies and services,
Exide Technologies' products in total support diverse applications and a broad
customer base in both commercial and industrial sectors in China, from the
highest-tech telecom market to public utilities to backup power for the subway
systems of Beijing and several other cities in China.

    Note:
    Exide Technologies is the global leader in providing electrical energy
storage solutions.  The company has operations in 89 countries, serving the
industrial and transportation markets.
    Industrial applications include network-power batteries for
telecommunications systems, fuel-cell load leveling, electric utilities,
railroads, photovoltaic (solar-power related) and uninterruptible power supply
(UPS) markets; and motive-power batteries for a broad range of equipment uses,
including lift trucks, mining vehicles and commercial vehicles.
    Transportation uses include automotive, heavy-duty truck, agricultural,
marine and other batteries, as well as new technologies being developed for
hybrid vehicles and new 42-volt automotive applications.  The company supplies
both aftermarket and original-equipment transportation customers.
    Further information about Exide Technologies, its financial results and
other information can be found at http://www.exide.com .

    Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking
statements as defined by the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  As
such, they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause the actual results of the company to be materially different
from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
These are enumerated in further detail in the company's Form 10-K.

    CONTACT:  Media, Jeannine Addams, 404-231-1132, or cell, 404-375-1801, or
              jfaddams@taradd.com, or Investors, Thomas J. Smith,
              609-919-4946, or tsmith@exideworld.com, both for Exide
              Technologies; or Joy Lo of Burson-Marsteller Beijing,
              +8610-6505-6363, ext. 227, or joy_lo@bm.com, for Shenyang
              Dongbei Storage Battery Co.