Your Battery Is Being Used Even When Your Car Is Parked
Covid-19 changed a lot of people’s driving habits. For some, working from home meant driving half as much. For others, at least for some of their vehicles, it meant not driving them at all.
Commutes disappeared or became only a few days a week. Trips for fun and family were reduced or eliminated. A lot of driving became short trips to the store or to a drive-through.
And while you could make an argument that less driving is good for the environment, it’s not so good for your car’s battery.
Did you know your car’s battery is still working even when your car is parked? That’s right, it is. Cars today have lots of computerized systems. Those systems have settings and memory that has to be maintained.
While your car sits in your garage or driveway doing nothing, the battery is keeping circuits active that affect the engine, the transmission, and numerous other systems. These are systems you’ll want ready for when you finally turn the key.
Batteries don’t like sitting too long. And while it’s common to think that cold weather is the hardest on batteries, the reality is, heat is worse. Sitting in hot weather can drain them very quickly.
Ideally, we recommend you drive your car at least once a week, and preferably for a good twenty to thirty minutes. This gives your vehicle’s alternator (it’s like a little mini powerplant in your car) time to recharge your battery. This works best if you are driving at freeway speeds.
Getting the car out there once a week is even more important if your car’s battery is more than three years old. That’s generally when they begin to deplete more rapidly.
But we also understand that sometimes it’s difficult to find a reason to drive once a week. For many elderly folks, this is a common problem. But for people staying home during Covid, it has also become a common reason for batteries to suffer. Jump starts, or worse, getting towed, are at stake if a battery gets too drained. But there are steps you can take.
Cars that have been sitting still need to be cared for. There are some steps you can take yourself if you are moderately comfortable under the hood. Interstate Batteries, a battery company, has a great article on steps you can take to keep your battery in good shape during a prolonged downtime. You can read that battery article here: https://www.interstatebatteries.com/blog/how-to-maintain-your-sitting-car-battery .
If, however, some of that is a bit too technical, let Oil Revo help. If your car has been sitting for a while, maybe even for long chunks of the last year or two, it might be time for a check up and maybe a service. Even engine oil doesn’t like sitting around uncirculated for too long.
Let Oil Revo come to your home and give your car a little tender love and care. We can change the oil, check other fluid levels, and even test that battery. We’ll make sure it’s still got enough charge to keep all those important systems running and ready for you when you need to go somewhere.
Oil Revo. We will come to you!
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