Surely it's all down to how the battery is being discharged and recharged and mileage covered rather than age?
It definately has the largest effects. Well used cars doing reasonable annual mileages made up of longer trips and during daylight hours will last far longer than those with the opposite usage patterns.
Mine in the Mazda3 (all OEM batteries) tended to last 4 years, but that was mainly because I had spells of unemployment and/or commuting solely by train and thus didn't use my car much during some years.
For mine at least, I found that in wamer weather (late spring round to early autumn), my car only needs a good run every 3 weeks; during the rest of spring and autumn and periods of relatively decent temperature in winter it can get away with a run every fortnight, and the remainder of the time once a week.
If I leave it for longer, especially in colder (and damper) periods, the battery runs flat very quickly and will, after not too long, won't take a charge. My car's on it's third battery and technically is due for another replacement within the next year, but unlike before (when I left mine longer between uses), it hasn't had any starting issues and has got through the service without any comments about it keeping a charge or not.
Unfortunately I live in a flat and cannot use a trickle charger. I suspect my extra usage probably isn't that much different over a 4 year period to the cost of replacing the battery. More favourable if I also include problems with the brakes and tyre flat spots (none for the latter yet, fortunately) caused by a lack of use.
|
