How much electricity do car batteries produce?

If you’re getting a new battery for your car, truck, RV, ATV, or any other vehicle, you may be wondering why most vehicle batteries are either 12 or 6 volts. Most vehicles are designed to run with a 12-volt battery, but it is often possible to get the same voltage with two six-volt batteries. Small differences in the voltage of your battery can make a large difference when it comes to your car’s performance. Here’s what you need to know about battery voltages:

12-volt batteries have six cells

A 12-volt battery has six cells, which produce 12.6 volts of electricity when the battery is fully charged. However, the amount of electricity that’s produced will decrease as the battery is discharged. Your battery is considered to be discharged when each cell holds 1.239 volts or less.

Six-volt batteries have three cells

Six-volt batteries only have three cells. As a result, they typically only produce 6.3 volts of electricity when they are fully charged.

Voltage is not the same as amperage

Even though most car batteries are only 6 or 12 volts, a 12-volt battery can produce as much as 600 amps. Amperage can be thought of as the volume of electricity that’s generated, but the voltage can be thought of as the “pressure” of the electricity.

Wattage is the voltage multiplied by the amperage, which gives you an idea of how powerful the electric current is. So, even though most car batteries are only 12 volts, they are capable of generating a current that’s around 180 times as powerful as what’s needed to power a 40-watt light bulb.

The specific voltage of the current your battery produces varies

Several factors can impact the amount of voltage that your battery produces, including the temperature. If the temperature drops to zero degrees, the amount of voltage that’s produced by a 12-volt battery could be as low as 7 amps. This is why it takes longer to start your car in cold weather. However, AGM Battery products are designed to be less affected by the cold, so browse our range of batteries today.