Let's look over the current state of Cloaking Devices, shall we?
#1 Expensive
Ranging from 120m to 450m cloaks aren't that you'd call "cheap".
#2 Low cloak time
Light cloak lasts 2 minutes. Medium lasts 4 minutes. Large lasts 16 minutes. BUT WAIT! The large one's ammo takes up cargo. Oh you already have the cloak installed? You also have an armor and some commodities. Well too bad.
#3 Easily countered
Trying to sneak on someone? Well unless you can do it under 5 minutes - tough luck buddy.
Trying to engage cloak? Got hit by a cruise disruptor? Sorry. Those stop the charging. Oh nice you managed to cloak. Whats that? You cannot run because missiles track you and they disrupt your engine? Blasted tracking tech!
Okay so you did escape OH WAIT is that a cloak disruptor?
Right so nobody shot CD's at you and nobody has a disruptor. You can cloak your cruiser and be stealthy. Incoming nova aimed towards your cloaking device says "hi.
#4 Now expensive batteries
Very well justified change, I see. Truly, for the best result.