New vs. old car battery
Car manufacturers love to adapt to this trend, especially in Europe. Keeps the witness companies and their fleet managers. They don’t need a fleet of cars that will last for decades. On the contrary, they want to buy as cheap as possible and in a few years to ship the cars farther at the lowest possible cost. This means delayed oil changes, ie extended intervals, “lifetime” refills in automatic transmissions and last but not least, of course, you also save your car batteries.
Batteries aren’t easy these days
But to be fair, today’s cars have batteries too much more demanding life. Today, on-board systems save energy wherever possible. That’s why they often drive literally with debt, and especially the first few kilometers with a cold engine, the balance is rather negative and more is taken from the car battery than supplied to it. This is also one of the nails in the coffin for her, and especially drivers who only drive a few kilometers should regularly recharge with a charger. But it is true that current new car batteries suffer a lot less on self-dischargecompared to accumulators before.
Quality of the electrode plates
And of course, car batteries are also under pressure for the lowest possible price. It is mainly saved electrode plate material. For those, their strength and structure are more important. Of course, weaker boards are less able to withstand the stress that mostly comes from cold starts – they literally fold due to a rapid electrochemical reaction. A weaker board bends more easily, which is a problem for the material deposited on it, which can starts falling off after a while. This way it gets to the bottom of the battery case, where it can at worst short-circuit the cells (although with some accumulators this is solved by pocket separators, which do not allow it to sink to the bottom).
Another clever trick to save them remove one positive electrode in each cell (usually a car battery has six, each 2V). The number of negative and positive electrodes will simply not match, but the positive will be one less, most often there will be eight negatives and seven positives. The battery will still workbut if the number of electrodes were the same, it would be best for longevity and the ability to provide greater current output.
What else can be affected the shape and method of production of the grill. They look like the cheaper ones stretch marks. It works, it fulfills the purpose, but such a grid folds easily and its properties are not optimal. Slightly better are the printed grids lead sheets, which has most of today’s car batteries. And they are ideal casting gridswhich is the domain of the most expensive accumulators, but far from it.
Do you want it to last? Buy EFB
Who would want a car battery that it can last for 8-10 years of operation, still has the option to buy one. But you need to choose not between the classic ones, but between EFB (Enhanced Flooded Battery) batteries. They are primarily intended for use in cars that do not have recovery, but have a stop-start system. But no one claims that you can’t buy, for example, a top-of-the-range Fabia … More or less EFB car battery correspond to those that were introduced in automobiles as an original production about twenty years ago, they have thicker electrodes and are heavier overall. And this is actually a layman’s advice in the end – the heavier the car battery, the better it usually is, because it contains more lead. This is not a flat rate, but rather a basic buying guide.
Source of information: car battery.
Media source: Depositphotos.
