How long does 12v battery last?

[CSW]

My 2016 Spark has 40k miles and is now 4 years old. So when does the 12v battery need replacing? I would like to replace it BEFORE it dies and becomes an issue.

Also, what is the best replacement part #? I want to use an AGM battery like factory. I found LN1AGM, but that one is no-longer it seems.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

My 2016 Spark has 40k miles and is now 4 years old. So when does the 12v battery need replacing? I would like to replace it BEFORE it dies and becomes an issue.

Also, what is the best replacement part #? I want to use an AGM battery like factory. I found LN1AGM, but that one is no-longer it seems.

Try O'Reilly Auto Parts in the Sacramento area. Their website shows they have or can get the LN1 AGM battery.

I have a 2016 Spark EV too and I am still on the original factory-installed battery. I make it a point every month to charge the 12 volt AGM battery for 12 to 24 hours using a battery charger specifically designed for AGM batteries and which also has a desulfating function. The desulfating function is a MUST HAVE!. I do the same for my 2014 Spark EV too.

 

[CSW]

Desulfating? Ok, will check on that, I don't do anything to the battery now.

I checked autozone and O'Riely web-sites and got no returns on a battery for the Spark EV.

I was going to be forced to call the dealer next....... which is almost always unpleasant.

 

[Kermit]

Rock Auto will ship it to you:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/chevrolet,2016,spark+ev,electric,3315179,electrical,battery,2476

I didn't mention it previously but desulfating an AGM battery is questionable in my mind. You must overcharge the battery for desulfation to happen and then they off gas and boil off water if they are not sealed. If they are sealed they claim to be pulse charging which would be a higher voltage for a short duration but if you are charging through an OBD2 port the wire gauge would not be allowing this to happen at a high enough voltage.

Below was from a different thread but wanted to quote it here.

... The OBD2 scanner does this as well via the OBD2 port. My test was after car was sitting unplugged for 11 hours in 25F weather [12.5Volts] this is with a battery that will be 4 years old in June of this year.

My last ICE car had 4 batteries total, two were Lead Acid and 2 were AGM. All my batteries lasted about 5 years. This is with a car that does not charge the battery when it is parked (like the Spark EV does when charging.) It also didn't charge as steadily, since the charge was based on the cars RPMs and it had to endure the extreme heat of the engine.

So assuming my AGM will last just 5 years as they have in the past (under much worse conditions.) I may have to replace my 12 volt battery 2-3 more times over the life of my car assuming I have the car for another 11-16 years (if I can get it to last that long.) Looking into the desulfated/overcharged and trickle charged AGM battery they may last 6-8 years max. I may have to buy one more over the lifetime of ownership of this car. With batteries costing ~$164 delivered to your door and a trickle charger costing ~$86 I would be spending $78 more to not plug and unplug my cars 12 volt battery several times a year. Or to break that out per year I would pay ~$5-7 a year, to not buy a charger but instead buy an extra battery and save a lot of time not popping the hood plugging it in and later unplugging it and closing the hood for 11-16 years.

I'm willing to pay that minimal fee for another battery and more importantly spending my time doing other things.

If you choose to buy a charger or jump starter pack as others have suggested you could at least use that to charge the battery and use it until the other one arrived which would get you the most life out of your existing battery before having to replace it. Any good charger will tell you the voltage of the battery.

Full thread if you want more context.
http://mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9113&p=27180#p27180

 

[NORTON]

...I didn't mention it previously but desulfating an AGM battery is questionable in my mind. You must overcharge the battery for desulfation to happen and then they off gas and boil off water if they are not sealed. ...

This is the old school method of lead acid maintenance. This is how golf carts and fork lifts in industrial settings used to do it.
Modern 'anti-sulfating' battery chargers use pulsed varying frequency AC voltage.
That's the science, anyway.

Hearsay side, I've been getting unusually, to me, long life out of all the lead acid batteries around the ranch! (not all AGM's)
I try to leave my BatteryMinder on each battery for a few days, or so, each month, or so....

 

[Kermit]

...I didn't mention it previously but desulfating an AGM battery is questionable in my mind. You must overcharge the battery for desulfation to happen and then they off gas and boil off water if they are not sealed. ...

This is the old school method of lead acid maintenance. This is how golf carts and fork lifts in industrial settings used to do it.
Modern 'anti-sulfating' battery chargers use pulsed varying frequency AC voltage.
That's the science, anyway.

Hearsay side, I've been getting unusually, to me, long life out of all the lead acid batteries around the ranch! (not all AGM's)
I try to leave my BatteryMinder on each battery for a few days, or so, each month, or so....

I think you missed my next sentence.

If they are sealed they claim to be pulse charging which would be a higher voltage for a short duration but if you are charging through an OBD2 port the wire gauge would not be allowing this to happen at a high enough voltage.

They pulse up to 60 volts DC. AC wouldn't be a good idea for a DC battery.

There are some claims out there that they work so it will interesting to see how long my battery lasts vs. others. It's all a learning experience if we share our experiences.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

...I didn't mention it previously but desulfating an AGM battery is questionable in my mind. You must overcharge the battery for desulfation to happen and then they off gas and boil off water if they are not sealed. ...

This is the old school method of lead acid maintenance. This is how golf carts and fork lifts in industrial settings used to do it.
Modern 'anti-sulfating' battery chargers use pulsed varying frequency AC voltage.
That's the science, anyway.

Hearsay side, I've been getting unusually, to me, long life out of all the lead acid batteries around the ranch! (not all AGM's)
I try to leave my BatteryMinder on each battery for a few days, or so, each month, or so....

I think you missed my next sentence.

If they are sealed they claim to be pulse charging which would be a higher voltage for a short duration but if you are charging through an OBD2 port the wire gauge would not be allowing this to happen at a high enough voltage.

They pulse up to 60 volts DC. AC wouldn't be a good idea for a DC battery.

There are some claims out there that they work so it will interesting to see how long my battery lasts vs. others. It's all a learning experience if we share our experiences.

Go to www.batteryminders.com and check out the info for model 2012-AGM.

 

[owenpswords]

Just replaced mine with AC Delco LN1 AGM from Rock Auto. Price was$150 got it FedEx the next day.

 

[user 1908]

My 12 volt has been given me a few Fault notices through the Torque Pro app. Coincidentally, my wife's ICE car battery died. So I needed a charger anyway. So I made a point to buy a charger with a battery conditioning feature. Mine was about $50 at Walmart. So far so good.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

My 12 volt has been given me a few Fault notices through the Torque Pro app. Coincidentally, my wife's ICE car battery died. So I needed a charger anyway. So I made a point to buy a charger with a battery conditioning feature. Mine was about $50 at Walmart. So far so good.

Does the charger you purchased have separate charging programs for the 12 volt wet cell battery in your ICE and the 12 volt AGM battery in your Spark EV? Please be aware that the 12 volt AGM battery in your Spark EV requires a completely different charging program and voltage than the 12 volt battery in your ICE. It is not a good idea to use the ICE charging program to charge your Spark EV's 12 volt AGM battery.

 

[MoldyWalnuts]

my June 2016 battery nearly died over a year ago and i was thinking of replacing it but i have a portable Sears battery charger so i charged it overnight. no problems since then, over a year now.

 

[CSW]

Just replaced mine in my 2016 Spark.
Car was doing the usual things, being weird, thankfully I read here long ago it does that or I woulda been freaked out.


$211 at the dealer, only one they had they said.
Battery hard to find it seems.
Only other place available was rock auto.
So battery lasted about 7 years.

 

[NORTON]

My '14 is going strong on the original 12V battery!!

I used to put a 2A batteryminder on it for a few days every few months.
This charger has a 'Desulfation' function and I believe that helps with the life of the battery.

I'm in the process of selling it.
Who needs an Out of Warranty 2014 Spark EV? !!!

 

[CSW]

Correction: last about 6.5 years.

Yea, I saw your prev posts and it makes sense.
Be interesting to see how long the battery will go, I know i'd subscribe to that channel. haha!

The spark sits outside often in 100+ degree weather here, so kinda hard on 12v battery, it has no active cooling ya know. haha!
Plus, I got the battery for "free" using my GM rewards credit card points.
Car has about 69k miles on it now, doing just fine, gonna need its 2nd set of front tires soon.

I had a 2014, that was my favorite one. 400 ft/lbs!
Also, simplified battery cooling system as well.

Had to give it back at end of lease, they wanted way too much and would not come down.

I own my 2016 tho, now only question is to keep it now that chevy is not warrantying batteries anymore, or sell it and use proceeds to get a Bolt when new tax credit kicks in....... we like our lil spark and have a high-mpg gas car as our other transport.

 

[Porsche]

... now that chevy is not warrantying batteries anymore...

I'm not sure if that's true. There have been a lot of posts about Chevy honoring warranties, not honoring warranties, doing car buybacks, discontinuing batteries entirely, etc. but the latest up-to-date info is that the "battery discontinued" story is not true, basically a misreading of their press release and policy. As far as I know, however difficult it may be to get satisfaction, the warranty is still in force (if you're within time and mileage).

 

[CSW]

Well, I am just going off the autoblog article I saw.

Either way, I never want to deal with Chevy over a battery warranty under the best of circumstances....
and the maybe, kinda, sorta it exists or not factor would just make it worse.
Dealerships are redick.....like they make effort to fulfill the negative stereotypes about them.

I am very confident that the Spark battery will live a normal life anyways, I have heard of none going bad really....

I like the spark, but Bolt is everything good about the spark, just more of it.
But for now, we will still have spark.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

I have a 2014 Spark EV and a 2016 Spark EV. Both were purchased as used vehicles about 6-7 years ago and both were very low mileage vehicles - 1.5k miles on the 2014 and 6.5k miles on the 2016. My first maintenance step was to replace the 12 volt AGM battery in both vehicles. I have maintained these batteries by periodically charging them overnight using a battery charger that is specific for AGM batteries and also has a desulfating option. The batteries in both Spark EVs are still the ones I originally installed.

 

[ElDobro]

Just replaced mine in my 2016 Spark.
Car was doing the usual things, being weird, thankfully I read here long ago it does that or I woulda been freaked out.


$211 at the dealer, only one they had they said.
Battery hard to find it seems.
Only other place available was rock auto.
So battery lasted about 7 years.

The 12V battery is the same one used in the Bolt.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

I have a 2014 Spark EV and a 2016 Spark EV. Both were purchased as used vehicles about 6-7 years ago and both were very low mileage vehicles - 1.5k miles on the 2014 and 6.5k miles on the 2016. My first maintenance step was to replace the 12 volt AGM battery in both vehicles. I have maintained these batteries by periodically charging them overnight using a battery charger that is specific for AGM batteries and also has a desulfating option. The batteries in both Spark EVs are still the ones I originally installed.

UPDATE: My 2014 Spark EV started having problems recognizing my keyfob. I suspected the 12 volt battery so I charged it for about 20 hours using the charger I mentioned above. So far, no problems.

 

[wywa]

Lacking any serious demand for current as in starting an ICE, you can use a long lasting Lithium Ion battery in the Spark and give away your old Lead Acid monster to someone who cranks an engine every day. They will be forewarned when the Lead Acid battery starts to reach the end of its useful life.
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