It is a well-known fact that nothing lasts forever and a car battery also breaks down at some point. However, a car battery has a fairly long life. According to ADAC, you can expect your car battery to last between four and five years. There is no difference between different types of car batteries, such as gel batteries or maintenance-free batteries. But how and why does a regular car battery break down in the first place?
Unfortunately, a car battery is not eternal. The reason for this is that, as with any battery, the number of charge and discharge cycles is limited. Winter cold is particularly stressful on a car battery. When it is cold, the chemical reactions inside the battery proceed more slowly. And the discharge creates lead sulfate in the battery. This lead sulfate forms crystals when the battery is not fully charged.
Over time, these crystals combine to form larger and larger deposits. This reduces the active surface area of the electrodes, which in turn leads to a worse response. After about four years, so much of the area has become unusable that you notice a significant decrease in battery performance.
The shocks to the battery, caused by driving over bumps, can cause the crystals to fall off the electrodes. They then form a layer on the bottom of the cell. If this layer becomes high enough to touch the two electrodes, a short circuit occurs and the battery is destroyed forever.
The crystals can only be destroyed by regular, continuous charging of the car battery. Unfortunately, this opens a vicious circle: This only works if there are no crystals at all. At some point, you can no longer charge the battery and it stops working. In this case, the car battery should be discarded.
When this happens and you need to buy a new battery, you should check the car's operating instructions to see which type you can use. The price range of car batteries is wide, but no matter what you choose, ADAC recommends that it be fully consistent with the specifics of your car's engine. When it comes to price, experts say that expensive does not always mean better, and cheap does not always mean worse.
It sounds illogical, but cleaning your car regularly during the winter can actually help increase the life of your battery. The reason for this is that leaks can occur due to wet dirt, which causes the battery to discharge. In addition, you should not heat the side mirrors or rear window unnecessarily in winter. And one more thing. Only turn on large energy consumers when the engine is running.