Basically yes. There's only so much room inside the battery so to get extra cranking amps the plates either have to be longer and subject to shorting out sooner or the plates have to be thinner which means less lead and will degrade sooner. This is what an Interstate battery tech told me when I was looking to replace the battery in my truck. They listed multiple different CCA for the given physical size of the battery. He said they try to cheat a little by making the battery slightly bigger in some cases but for the most part it's just different size plates inside the battery. It was only an extra $10 or $20 bucks to get the largest CCA they had (800 CCA)but he talked me into getting the 710 CCA battery saying it was more than enough battery to meet my needs (no extra lights, winch, plow, etc) and would most likely last longer.