Why Car Batteries Die Faster on the Gold Coast (and How to Make Yours Last)
If you've lived on the Gold Coast for a while, you may have noticed your car battery doesn't seem to last as long as it did somewhere else. That's not bad luck. Our climate is genuinely hard on batteries, and a few small habits can make a real difference to how long yours lasts. Here's what's going on under the bonnet, the warning signs to watch for, and what to do if your car won't start. Heat is the biggest battery killer Most people assume cold weather kills batteries. Cold mornings do expose a weak battery, because the engine is harder to turn over. But heat is what does the damage in the first place. A car battery makes power through a chemical reaction. High temperatures speed that reaction up, and they also speed up the slow internal wear that every battery goes through: corrosion of the internal plates and loss of water from the electrolyte. Under the bonnet on a Gold Coast summer afternoon, temperatures can climb well above the air temperature outside...