Why are car batteries in 2023 so terrible?

[PeteDaLubey]

I wonder how much battery location matters in the life of a battery? I noticed all my under the back seat and trunk batteries seemed to last significantly longer than batteries under the hood.

Yeah heat and vibration radicaly shorten battery llife. Most cars now have such cluttered and insulated engine bays that battery temps get very hot compared to the old cars which typically with heaps of air space / flow around the battery.

 

[DwightFrye]

When I swapped out the battery in my Mazda CX-5 a couple of months ago I noticed that there was an insulated sleeve around it which of course I slipped over the new AGM battery when I installed it. I assume that it was to help with the under hood heat issue although it was only about 1/4" thick so I don't know how effective it is.

I keep my Jaguar on a CTEK battery maintainer as I only drive it a few times a month. Those cars are known to have strange issues when the battery is not at optimum charge strength. And they haven't used Lucas electrics for years ! But I agree the demands upon a car battery these days with all the added electronics are much greater than they were 20 years ago and the parasitic draw while the cars are just sitting can be quite substantial. Battery maintainers are a good idea for any vehicle that isn't getting almost daily use.

 

[Jesse_NE]

Between vehicles, equipment and irrigation power units, we deal with a lot of batteries.

Anything made by Deka seems to give us the fewest issues. Exide is good, but sometimes you get one built on a Monday. Johnson Controls' stuff is a crapshoot. Blemished Interstate batteries my boss keeps buying because he's a cheap farmer, better have cables or a jump box.

 

[mbres2000]

I try to drive less frequently, walk or bicycle more, work mostly remotely from home, and it is a constant fight to keep batteries charged.

Well, there you go.

I suggest a good quality trickle charger like Battery Tender or NOCO Genius. These will stop charging and go into a monitoring mode when the battery is fully charged. It's very common to see them used on collector cars and project cars that don't get driven frequently. You don't need an expensive one. I have relied on a 750ma Battery Tender Jr. for many years now.

Since we're having a contest about whose is longest, several years ago I bought a used pickup that had a 12-month "Budget Battery". I assumed it would be something I'd have to replace right away, but that sucker ended up lasting somewhere around 8-9 years total! I did use a Battery Tender on it when the truck was out of commission for months at a time, getting a new engine, suspension, etc.

 

[PWMDMD]

I’m under the impression EVERYTHING made in 2023 is terrible.

 

[vavavroom]

In my experience car batteries have increasingly been lasting ever longer over the last 25 years. It's quite possible that an increasing number of very electricity-hungry features stress batteries more. How many people constantly charge power banks, tablets, and phones in their vehicles? Do you have huge speakers and amplifiers installed? I haven't had a battery last less than 6 years as far as I can remember. Climate and heat cycling certainly plays a role in battery degradation. I have only ever bought AGM batteries.