I’m not so sure I buy the idea that hotter climates are harder on batteries than colder climates.
Yes, I’ve been on-line and read many of the analyses of this assertion, but I think there are other factors that explain why batteries in hotter climates fail to a greater degree than in colder climates.
In my mind most of this comes down to poor maintenance.
Traditional lead-acid batteries are filled with an acid solution which is diluted with water. When you examine a battery that has not been maintained you notice that the liquid level needs to be replenished. This is because, over time, the natural chemical processes of the battery and evaporation causes the water portion of the solution to slowly disappear.
MORE THAN NINETY-NINE PECENT of car owners NEVER maintain their batteries and, as such, their battery are damaged.
Chemical reactions and evaporation occur faster at higher temperatures, so the loss of water from batteries occurs faster in hotter climates. Which means that batteries in hotter climates need to be maintained to a higher degree than batteries in colder climates. We all know this just does NOT happen.
I have the original battery from a 2004 Volvo that is still performing perfectly. I no longer have the car but keep the battery on a battery tender and maintain it occasionally. A friend of mine who has a VW Passat whose battery died, recently borrowed the battery until he could schedule a replacement. He used the battery for several months with no problems.
I believe that most of the evidence for hotter climate batteries failing to a greater degree is anecdotal. In other words if you do a statistical analysis of historical data on battery life you will see that batteries in hotter climates do fail to a greater degree. But that is not because the heat. It is because of the lack of the required increase of maintenance.
The logic for the harder-on-batteries assertion is kind of like the argument that all drug addicts drank milk when they were young, so drinking milk must cause people to become drug addicts. Likewise logic says that more batteries fail in hotter climates so hotter climates must cause batteries to fail.
I don’t buy it.
