Ecobat Battery has continued to encourage technicians to put into practice a battery testing policy for every vehicle coming into the workshop, irrespective of what it’s actually booked in for.
As independent workshops are increasingly aware, although their primary function is still to fix the many problems affecting their customers’ vehicles, nowadays they are also providing an all encompassing customer service offering to motorists, which very often includes an element of practical advice helping them get the best from their vehicles.
This advice is particularly important as we are now in an era when the typical mechanical knowledge of a driver is far less than it was 20 or 30 years ago, as many people have no exposure to mechanical parts, so have little appreciation of how to maintain them. However, one of many areas where workshops can make a difference to their customers relates to their batteries and reflects the considerable power demands they are now under with modern electrically hungry vehicles and current low mileage driving habits.
Reflecting these realities, Ecobat Battery has encouraged technicians to implement a battery testing policy for every vehicle coming into the workshop. This is because, as research from CTEK, one of the brands supplied by Ecobat Battery, has also discovered, one in three vehicles entering a workshop has a battery in need of attention, a figure jumping to over 50% in winter, yet, while more than half of all drivers have suffered battery failure, fewer than 25% regularly charge their batteries.
Having established a battery has reached the end of its life and does need to be replaced, as well as fitting the best possible replacement, which can be found using the Ecobat Battery finder tool, it should be recommended to protect their investment and maintain the battery’s maximum life cycle, the customer should consider purchasing a battery charger to use, if not regularly, certainly periodically, to keep it in peak condition.
Naturally, using a battery charger is not always easy because not everyone has a driveway and access to power, but for those who do a choice of CTEK battery charges are available. However, workshops can again provide the advice customers need by simply explaining they can find the charger that would suit their requirements based on the rule of 10.
This means if the battery which has just been replaced was a 100 Ah (amp hour) battery, then a CTEK MXS 10 amp charger would be appropriate, but if it was a small 50Ah battery, then a MXS 5 amp charger is adequate. Furthermore, those who don’t have access to a convenient power outlet still have a charging option with a portable, pre-charged CS Free unit which can top the battery up and then itself be recharged inside the house once it’s done its job.
These supplementary charging suggestions not only support the battery they have just purchased, but they will also maximise its lifespan and improve the daily reliability of their vehicle, all positive benefits to motorists who, without this specialist knowledge being explained to them, could well find themselves by the side of the road with battery failure, which remains the most common breakdown they are likely to experience.
In summary, the combination of fast evolving electrical systems and battery technology means proactive battery charging is more important than ever. So, with this in mind and a range of CTEK chargers on the shelf, workshops are in an excellent position to not only address the issues, but also provide the solution.
