Reply #14: Most battery deteriorate over time as opposed to use

[happyslug]

Thus most people replace their car battery every 3-4 years. Now both usage and time affect battery life, but failure to use can cause a battery to fail almost as much as constant discharging and charging. This is my biggest concern regarding hybrids, I generally buy new but then keep my cars about ten years (they are a few of us that do that). With a hybrid I may have to buy a new car every 7-8 years instead of 8-10 years that I have been averaging (My Present car is ten years old and I purchased it new, I had to trade in some cars that were no longer wroth keeping and two whose cost to keep exceeded their value, one do to an accident the other do to general decline in the car after it hit about 8 years old).