4 Top car battery myths you can do without

Batteries are indispensable for a car to function normally. While a simple turn of key or pressing a button is required to get your car moving, it is the battery's health that determines whether those functions are enough to flare your engine up for a ride. Besides providing for the ignition power, a battery is also required for various electrical functionalities in your vehicle like for operating the power window, windshield wipers, radio & music systems, alarms and more.

To ensure sustained performance from your car battery, you should be well aware about the myths surrounding it. This will help you stay prepared and avoid confusing counsels about its care or maintenance. We have enlisted a few myths below and tried explaining those to help you out:

1. 'Maintenance-free' batteries do not need servicing - This is one of the most common myths that can get you confused. Maintenance-free car batteries would obviously require less care, as there's no need to top up the electrolyte levels at intervals, which in turn means that you simply must get a replacement battery once the old one dies. However, those still require periodic checking to see if there's any buildup near the terminals and for the alternator charge. Thus, even 'maintenance-free' batteries need cleaning services and regular but minimal care to keep up with its performance.

2. Discharged batteries won't affect the fuel economy - A flat or discharged battery would stress out the alternator as you attempt to start the car. This, in turn, would put strain on the engine, causing it to consume additional fuel. Discharged batteries could even lead to disruptions in the car electrical, which is why it's always recommended to get your dead car batteries serviced at the earliest to avoid performance issues and further damages; or to find a new one as replacement if the existing battery seems to have reached its end-of-life.

3. Each car battery has a specific life of at least 4/5 years - Every automotive battery is manufactured differently and has separate technological specifications. The life of a car battery is dependent on a lot of factors, like its maintenance, whether it's the right fit for the car, the climate of the region, the frequency of car usage and for how long it's driven, the number of electricals dependent on the battery and their usage etc. So, uniform performance from every battery shouldn't be expected and it's hard to put an exact timeline for battery life.

4. Unused batteries retain the charge - No matter which battery brand you choose or how much money you spend on it, a car battery is a consumable. This means that it loses its life over time, and that might happen even if you don't use it much. Leaving a vehicle unused for a long time is therefore not advised at all. If you want to preserve the battery health when your car is kept idle, quick checkups should always be carried out. Also, disconnecting the battery might not be a wise action as in modern cars, a lot of electricals are supported by battery power and disconnecting that might affect their settings.

For any other queries about battery and their performance, you can always seek help with Exide. With decades of experience of being a battery manufacturer, Exide can guide you about maintaining battery health and explain which myths you can be wary of. The brand has a prompt servicing team called Exide Batmobile which can reach out to you for battery assistance any time you need, whether it is for jumpstarting your discharged battery, checking for faulty connections or for a quick service necessitating dead car battery replacement.