TRUE OR FALSE: Cold weather is bad for batteries. FALSE:
Batteries like the cold. Lower average battery temperature means
longer life expectancy. A typical baggage tractor battery weighs
well over 3,000 pounds, which is too much mass to lower the
internal temperature over the course of a day or two. Hopefully,
the battery is being used and charged, which generates heat and
maintains temperature. And even if the internal temperature
drops, the electrolyte in a charged battery will not freeze. So
in most cases, even freezing temperatures don’t make any
difference at all, and possibly they even help. There is some
bad news, however: - Lower internal battery temperature means
lower capacity: A cold battery could deliver as little as half
the capacity of a warm battery. And probably at a time when the
tractor is demanding more power to do the same work. - Some
chargers shut off before cold batteries reach 100 percent state-
of-charge: In this case the electrolyte can stratify, leaving
mostly water on top and create