# Battery life?



## jimmyc (Jun 27, 2020)

Just about any 12V battery in just about any auto, pickup motorhome, etc. should last 4 years unless subject to extreme heat or cold.
Of course that's no guarantee.....but 4 years these batteries can and do simply "drop" without warnings. Ask me how I know......


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

Mine lasted 13 months after manufacturing. Took me 4 months to get it warranteed. 

None of us have any idea when it was manufactured. How long it took to make it from the plant to the store. How long it's been sitting on the shelf.

I've seen brand new batteries bad.


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## Valpo Cruze (Feb 23, 2014)

My old 12 made it about 5 years


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## 17Hatch6MT (Dec 28, 2015)

Mine was almost exactly 5 years old when I took it in for service recently. Routine service including a battery check which gave an 'ok'. Shop guy thought these were good for about 7 years. Maybe helping it in my case, I don't drive a whole lot & try to avoid short trips (use a bike for my work commute). Car has about 27000 miles now.


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## Valpo Cruze (Feb 23, 2014)

2 to 5 years is the average battery life expectancy. Sometimes you get longer, some won’t make it 2 years. My Audi battery made it 7 years but died in the winter away from home. I had been thinking about changing it earlier but decided to roll the dice. Came up box cars that day.


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## Barry Allen (Apr 18, 2018)

snowwy66 said:


> None of us have any idea when it was manufactured. How long it took to make it from the plant to the store. How long it's been sitting on the shelf.


They usually have a date code sticker on them at retail sale, but maybe OEM batteries don't. 

It will be like 12/21 and that supposedly means the battery was manufactured in December 2021, so if you do like most battery customers do and lose your purchase receipt the 3 year or whatever free replacement warranty is dated from the date of manufacture.

I've seen the stickers be maybe one month off - it wouldn't surprise me if a battery manufactured in November would get a December date code just to give them a month cushion for it to get through the supply chain and be sold at the store. It gives the customer a month of cushion.


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## Barry Allen (Apr 18, 2018)

After about 3.5 years I was starting to ask the dreaded question "Do I want to gamble with this battery in winter?" It's a very notable gamble because my job is paying $500 monthly bonus pay if you show up on time for all your shifts, and the December-January bonus (two pay periods over the busy holiday period) is $1,300. Having a single day of the car not starting would be $1,300 evaporated out of my paycheck.

I was questioning how long the battery lasts and then I changed my fuel filter (Diesel engine). I turned on the accessory mode for about a minute to let the fuel pump pressurize the filter and then it was a couple of hard starts where the engine chugged because the injectors were purging air. Right when it started it flashed the "BATTERY VOLTAGE LOW" message or something similar. Interstate battery tested it the next day and it was like 12 volts when it should have been 13-13.5, so time to replace it instead of gambling.


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## CoolandMellow (Jun 12, 2020)

Typical battery life is about 5 yrs. Most have 3 yr warranty. You may get lucky and get 7 years of use.
An older near and end of life battery will become weak during cooler months with noticeable hard starts.


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## MD_Steve (Nov 23, 2014)

jamc204 said:


> I have a 2016 Gen 2 with 84,000 miles on it. It still has the original battery which works fine. Just curious to know how much life other Gen 2 owners have gotten out of the original battery. Thanks


I have a 2015 with 84K. The original battery was fine on Dec 10th, absolutely dead on Dec 11th.


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

Barry Allen said:


> They usually have a date code sticker on them at retail sale, but maybe OEM batteries don't.
> 
> It will be like 12/21 and that supposedly means the battery was manufactured in December 2021, so if you do like most battery customers do and lose your purchase receipt the 3 year or whatever free replacement warranty is dated from the date of manufacture.
> 
> I've seen the stickers be maybe one month off - it wouldn't surprise me if a battery manufactured in November would get a December date code just to give them a month cushion for it to get through the supply chain and be sold at the store. It gives the customer a month of cushion.


They used to have punch stickers also.

Been a long time since I seen anything.
Even my motorcycle battery don't have one.


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## Maqcro1 (Apr 29, 2019)

jamc204 said:


> I have a 2016 Gen 2 with 84,000 miles on it. It still has the original battery which works fine. Just curious to know how much life other Gen 2 owners have gotten out of the original battery. Thanks


My battery lasted 7 years off the lot. Pretty sure that won’t happen again.


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