Car Batteries: Tips Against Frost Frustration

Do you know this? It is cold, you want to start the car – and nothing happens. Car batteries often fail at low temperatures. Why this is the case, what you can do preventively, and how TELAG helps with such problems, you can read in our blog post.

In winter, temperatures are low and it is dark for longer. The result: lights, fans, windshield wipers, and the car heater run continuously. Therefore, the cold season is a trial by fire for every car battery. In winter, defective or discharged batteries rank high in the breakdown statistics of services like TCS and ADAC. But this is not only due to the high demand: the cold negatively affects your car's batteries.

Paralyzing Temperatures

When it gets colder, the electrochemical processes in car batteries slow down, reducing performance. Additionally, the engine is not as "eager to turn" in the cold as usual: the friction resistance increases because the oil, which serves as a lubricant, becomes more viscous at lower temperatures. The engine then requires more starting power from the battery, while the battery can provide less power at the same time. The likelihood that the ignition will fail increases significantly.

How can you prevent and reduce this risk? Here are some tips:

• Regular charging ideally twice a year, in spring and autumn
• Inspection and maintenance of your battery – especially old batteries are prone to failure. Also pay attention to the cleanliness of the terminals and contacts.
• On short trips (< 10 km), the battery is not fully charged. This negatively affects the battery's lifespan and cold start performance. Turn off unnecessary devices such as your sound system, rear window heater, and seat heater on short trips to preserve your battery.
• If it is very cold, you can try the following: before starting the engine, turn on the headlights briefly (up to three minutes). This can warm the battery slightly and allow it to deliver a stronger starting current. But be careful: if the battery is damaged or very weakly charged, this procedure can completely ruin it.

When All Else Fails

Despite everything, it can happen that the car stops working at low temperatures. Then only the towing service can help. If you call such a service in Switzerland, especially in the Zurich area, it is very likely that a TELAG employee will answer the call. They reliably forward your report to the responsible patrol officer of the towing service who is currently on call, and soon your problem will be history.

Since 1979, TELAG has specialized in managing on-call services. Our customers include heating companies, elevator companies, facility management services, parking garages, IT companies, funeral homes – and towing services. After a detailed briefing for a new project, TELAG is ready to start operations within 2 to a maximum of 2.5 weeks. TELAG carefully trains the employees deployed in the project and employs multilingual dispatchers with technical affinity. This enables TELAG to deliver the highest quality and optimally support drivers and on-call personnel – from Switzerland, for Switzerland.

Contact: Patrick Weber, Head of Sales Switzerland, +41 44 276 44 22, patick.weber@telag.ch