How long should a car battery last ?

How Long Should a Car Battery Last?
Technology is advancing at a faster and faster rate, and it can be hard to know if you are getting the most out of your car battery. Most batteries should last much longer than their warranty period. Like most products, the better quality the battery you buy, the longer it will last well after its warranty period is over. Even though most batteries look the same on the outside they are all different on the inside. A battery is not just a battery.
Nearly all car batteries these days are maintenance free and use lead additives such as Antimony, Calcium and Tin combined with a sulfuric based electrolyte solution. Cell construction, plate thickness and type, acid volume, internal design and choice of active materials make a world of difference between having a battery that fails before its time or having a battery that lasts longer.
Making sure that you have the right size battery in your car can help too. If your car battery is too small for the car it will generally fail prematurely. Battery warranty generally indicates the quality so the higher the warranty term then better the battery. As an example, if the cheapest battery for your car starts at $120 with a 12 month warranty, then normally eac quality step up costs you around $20 more. So a 24 month warranty will be $140 and 36 month $160. Now do the maths purely based on the warranty life. The best battery in this example is $160 divided by 3 means that its costing you around $53 per year versus $70 for a 24 month and so on. Not a lot of money when you think it starts your car on average three times a day and powers your electrics. Also not much when you think about how much petrol costs you on a weekly basis !
So come in and see the team at Queensland Discount Batteries in Mackay and we will make sure you have the right battery for your car, and while you’re there get your existing battery tested for free.






