SOT: car battery question

On my previous car I had a battery completely fail overnight when the temperature was hovering around 0C. The car was used for commuting and did around 30 miles a day. Prior to the failure the car had started first time after being left all day in a cold car park, There was no hint of a failing battery. There was no problems with the alternator or charging circuits, as confirmed when the new battery was fitted and operated without problems until the car was disposed of many years later.

Much like try find find out if the fridge light turns off when the door is shut a friend had a problem with a battery going flat and eventually it was traced to the switch that turns on/off the light in the boot being faulty :)

My car keeps supplying power to certain equipment for around 12 minutes after the key is removed from the ignition. Some equipment closes down earlier only if the key is removed and the drivers door is opened and/or the drivers door is subsequently locked.

Part of the software upgrade for the sat nav, on screen functions and maybe some ECU functions requires the key to be removed, the car locked and waiting 15 minutes before unlocking the car again.

I'm starting to feel grateful my car is so old and a bit nervous about buying an electric car.

It's just the old part. New ICE cars are just as full of software and have all the same problems.

The boot switch can be a three position switch. OFF, AUTO, ON

When you get a new car, always verify how that switch works. Whether the switch has two positions or three positions.

As delivered, the car should come with the switch in the AUTO position.

On my cars, I have always left that in the OFF position, to avoid surprises. The courtesy light may have a similar feature, three positions, and I leave that one OFF as well.

Paul

I'm dreading replacing my 2010 petrol Ford Focus regardless of whether it is electric or not.

My sister has just bought a hybrid Lexus and as she has me on the insurance (reduced the premium by £1 !!) she had me drive it for a couple of days. My god, talking about nagging wives. Beep this, beep beep that. I would have strangled it if I could have worked out where its throat was.