Do Cement Floors Ruin Car Batteries

Contrary to very popular belief even touted by many a mechanic today s car batteries with their hard plastic shells will not discharge or otherwise be damaged when placed on a concrete floor.

Do cement floors ruin car batteries.

That word it had too many. Today s batteries have plastic cases there is no risk of the battery degrading from being on a concrete floor. You re right about that. Batteries used to be topped off with water which resulted in acid being spattered about.

If you put one on a concrete floor without carefully washing it the acid ate into the concrete quickly ruining the floor. In that case even that trace of acid will react with the highly alkaline concrete to leave a mark on the floor. Cement and concrete floors provide a fairly good barrier between the car battery and extreme temperature changes that could otherwise cause damage to the battery cells allowing for a discharge leak. Leaking acid ate the concrete away.

At northeast battery we tell our distributors that storing batteries on a concrete floor is a good idea as it helps keep the battery cool so it discharges less. We ve always been told not to leave car batteries on garage floors too. The battery is ok and the mark on the floor is permanent. Interestingly enough many experts such as car talk s click and clack think that storing car batteries on concrete floors might actually be a great idea because the cold concrete can help slow down the self discharge leakage rate.

Cement is not conductive. No it does not. You do not want to sell a customer a battery that is close to dead. The reasons given for this prohibition vary depending on whom one hears the admonition.

It didn t hurt the battery one bit but people who misunderstood the advice and wanted to appear knowledgeable came up. But that s so other mechanics won t trip over them and crack their heads. However if the battery has been in use it may have a trace of acid on it.