

Show more The Expert: With five race cars and seven motorcycles in my shop, plus more than a few daily drivers, and tow vehicles in addition, my maintenance schedule is a lot like painting the Golden Gate Bridge: by the time I’ve finished one side, it’s time to start back at the beginning.

We’ve rounded up the best options from basic no-frills car battery chargers to highly sophisticated charging stations capable of maintaining several vehicles at once. In some hybrids, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but even a Prius needs a working 12-volt battery in good condition. In a fully electric Tesla, for instance, the 12-volt battery runs the electrical accessories and is also required for a successful power-on. In traditional gas-powered automobiles, the battery turns the starter and runs all the electrical accessories, while being recharged on the move by the alternator, which is turned by the engine.
#Home depot battery buddy driver#
It doesn’t matter if your daily driver is a 50-year-old pickup truck or brand-new Tesla-without a working 12-volt primary battery, as Bob Dylan might say, you ain’t goin’ nowhere. Some chargers also have a jump-start feature, just in case.

This tool can also significantly extend the life of your battery-and given the steadily-rising prices of 12-volt batteries, just getting an extra year or two of service can pay for a car battery charger a few times over. An external car battery charger is a great way to make sure that your vehicle is always ready to start when you need it. The job of a car battery is a tough one, and it’s made worse by extremes in weather, brief commutes that don’t provide enough recharge time, stop/start systems fitted to many modern automobiles, or accidentally leaving your lights on.
