Why Car Batteries Are Dying Young

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Why Car Batteries Are Dying Young
Plethora of Gadgets, Chargers, Onboard Systems Sap Power; Beware the Killer Cup Warmer
By JONATHAN WELSH
March 14, 2007; Page D1

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A steady increase in the number of electrical accessories in the average car is shortening battery life. As vehicles are now being designed to operate more systems, they still use the same basic type of 12-volt battery that has been in use for decades.

In the past decade or so cars have evolved from basic transportation to something resembling dens, kitchens and offices on wheels, with everything from DVD screens, subwoofer sound systems and mood lighting to built-in refrigerators and cup holders that heat coffee and cool soft drinks. The automotive aftermarket also offers an ever-growing range of gadgets that help multitasking drivers and passengers talk, eat, find their way around and get their work done on the road.

For consumers, the proliferation of onboard electronics means increased comfort, convenience, efficiency and safety in the form of computerized engine controls, tire-pressure sensors, and powerful navigation and entertainment systems. The downside: All these power-sapping accessories -- coupled with vehicles' increasingly complex networks of electronic-ignition systems, pollution-control devices, security systems and display screens -- could be helping to drive up the death rate for car batteries.

Even parked cars are using more juice than they used to. It isn't that owners are simply forgetting to turn off the headlights, or leaving their cellphones charging overnight. There are many electronic devices in today's vehicles that continue to draw power even after the ignition is turned off. Electric fans under the hood may run for several minutes after a vehicle is turned off to cool the engine. And navigation, engine-management and diagnostic systems need power to maintain memory and can slowly discharge a battery to where it cannot easily be recharged simply by running the car.

Sales of replacement batteries -- which range from $50 to $200 -- jumped 13% to 67.7 million in 2006, compared with 59.9 million a year earlier and an average of about 54 million a year for the previous 10 years, according to data from Industry MR, a research firm in Oak Brook, Ill. A spokesman for the firm says there are other factors that contribute to the jump in battery replacement. For one, people are keeping their cars longer, and the frequency of battery replacement tends to increase in cars that are more than five years old.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117383315868136180.html (subscription)

[benEzra]

1. I wonder if the quality of low-end mass-merchant batteries is also declining...

thereby shortening battery life to some extent.

I've learned the hard way never to skimp on the battery; you definitely get what you pay for in that regard. I put a cheap Wal-Mart basic battery in a vehicle once, and won't make that mistake again.

My preference is Sears Diehard, but I've also had good luck with auto-parts-store batteries, as long as I get one of the more expensive ones.

[Gregorian]

2. I believe I know the answer.

The plates in the typical automobile quality batteries are made of a spongy lead. I've heard that commercial batteries are made of solid lead plates. Not spongy lead.

I have a commercial truck. The battery on that truck has run completely dead for literally a year at a time. As it stands, that battery was put in that truck back in 1992. I can charge it up and it works as if it were new.

My guess is that as we produce more and more cars and batteries, the sponge aspect of the lead plates has become more like the candy bars we get versus the ones we got back in 1960. I mean, there's less of it.

Just let a car battery sit on a zero charge for a year. It'll be deader than a door nail.

I can go a bit further on this theory. Sulphating is what kills batteries. It is a buildup that ends up eventually shorting the plates. A solid plate has much less surface area for sulphates to build up.

At any rate, I'm willing to accept that I'm wrong. I don't recall where I got my source of info on truck batteries.

[lutefisk]

3. The Panasonic in my Land Cruiser lasted almost 9 years

It was made in Japan and came as original equipment in my 1995 Land Cruiser. When I decided to replace it I tried to find another one, but apparently they don't import them to the US.