As we start to enter the peak winter battery season, battery supplier Bosch is encouraging all sectors of the aftermarket to carry out or encourage winter battery checks and promote greater battery awareness. This not only saves motorists the inconvenience of a possible breakdown, but can bring important additional business for both factors and garages.  

Flat battery problems are the biggest cause of breakdown call outs and often if the breakdown service replaces the battery, this means lost business to the local aftermarket. However, by encouraging checks and pre-emptive replacement, where required, garages and factors will benefit.  

Most drivers are unaware that additional equipment on modern vehicles with many electrical consumers, has enormously increased the drain on batteries. The consumption of air conditioning, seat heating, rear window heating, start / stop system, driver assistance systems, plus servo assistance of steering and brakes is nowadays far above what the alternator can deliver. In this situation the car battery compensates for the lack of energy. In addition, the battery is repeatedly charging and discharging, for example on short distances journeys, and can be stressed through these persistent cycles.

Bosch says workshops should therefore check the battery during every workshop visit. If necessary, the battery can then quickly be charged or replaced. This is especially important coming in to winter. In cold and humid conditions batteries come under more pressure. Not only does lower temperatures reduce their capacity, winter also means increasing power consumption with, rear window and seat heating, lighting system and fan often running simultaneously and at the highest level.

Bosch points out when choosing a new battery it is important to consider its performance and service life. With the S3, S4, S5, S4 E and S5 A the Bosch battery programme for workshops contains a wide range of high quality batteries including EFB and AGM units. In addition, using the universal battery charger BAT 645, the workshops can reliably charge and test all types of lead-acid battery.