[DanG]

My M2 is approaching five years old. What are other owners experience on how long our stock BMW battery lasts?

I also heard that you may have to program the car to accept a new battery. Is this true?

[Zeese]

Originally Posted by DanG

My M2 is approaching five years old. What are other owners experience on how long our stock BMW battery lasts?

I also heard that you may have to program the car to accept a new battery. Is this true?

August 2016 - December 2021
The battery started giving it up months earlier.
Google: BMW Battery Replacement and Registration
Depending on the old and new batteries, e.g. type and amperage, you will have a little or a little and then some to do. Bimmercode, IIRC, worked for me.
$240 a year ago: Duracell Ultra Platinum AGM 800CCA BCI Group 94R Car and Truck Battery / SLI94RAGM

[lax01]

My car sits a good amount and I was getting battery low alerts until I actually started driving the car. That hasn't come back but I imagine that will start to happen before the battery really dies...

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by Zeese

August 2016 - December 2021
The battery started giving it up months earlier.
Google: BMW Battery Replacement and Registration
Depending on the old and new batteries, e.g. type and amperage, you will have a little or a little and then some to do. Bimmercode, IIRC, worked for me.
$240 a year ago: Duracell Ultra Platinum AGM 800CCA BCI Group 94R Car and Truck Battery / SLI94RAGM

That's a deal ‼️

Purchased car 12/23/17

I replaced mine with a factory battery in dec of 21 under warranty

I'd buy this ^ if I had to pay myself

DanG I can code in your new battery

[chris719]

Originally Posted by DanG

My M2 is approaching five years old. What are other owners experience on how long our stock BMW battery lasts?

I would keep an eye on it past 5 years, but it really depends on how you drive. A lot of short trips and parking outside in summer heat will put you at the shorter part of the life spectrum.

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by chris719

I would keep an eye on it past 5 years, but it really depends on how you drive. A lot of short trips and parking outside in summer heat will put you at the shorter part of the life spectrum.

He parks his M2 outside

So I'd say his factory battery has served him quite well

I'd replace it now before it creates any issues

[GoneIn4Secs]

I picked up a trickle charger for my n55 m2, I dont see why the battery would be an issue if you plug it in when you are not gonna drive it for an extended period

[F87source]

Originally Posted by DanG

My M2 is approaching five years old. What are other owners experience on how long our stock BMW battery lasts?

I also heard that you may have to program the car to accept a new battery. Is this true?

Depending on how often you drive it and if you store it with a tender generally batteries last from 5-10 years. Mine is going on 6 years without issue, it can sit for multiple weeks without driving and still not show any low battery warnings. I believe the total capacity check said it was in the 78-80% range, so mine should be ok for another few years.

Yes you must program the car (this process is called battery registration) when you replace it with a new battery. This is because the car's IBS progressively charges the battery less and less as capacity decreases with age. So if you do not register the new battery the car will under charge it and that will cause the battery to degrade and lose its peak capacity even faster.

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by F87source

Depending on how often you drive it and if you store it with a tender generally batteries last from 5-10 years. Mine is going on 6 years without issue, it can sit for multiple weeks without driving and still not show any low battery warnings. I believe the total capacity check said it was in the 78-80% range, so mine should be ok for another few years.

Yes you must program the car (this process is called battery registration) when you replace it with a new battery. This is because the car's IBS progressively charges the battery less and less as capacity decreases with age. So if you do not register the new battery the car will under charge it and that will cause the battery to degrade and lose its peak capacity even faster.

My M2 is garaged and I use a ctek and always have and mine lasted 5 years exactly

So you're spot on

[atlas]

5 years here and so far so good. My E46 battery lasted 11 years if I recall correctly!

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by atlas

5 years here and so far so good. My E46 battery lasted 11 years if I recall correctly!

11 years is amazing

[JustAWhisper]

Originally Posted by ///M TOWN

11 years is amazing

That's actually not unusual! My E46 battery lasted 12 years. Battery wasn't even tendered.

BMW batteries tend to last quite a while because they are often oversized and located in the trunk for better weight distribution. This has the side benefit of putting the battery in a very benign environment where they don't tend to run down significantly on charge or experience high amplitude heat cycles. Modern BMW's have more electronics which run down the battery more, but not enough to really hasten battery life unless you were really pushing it with lots of long periods between drives.

I would not worry about replacing a battery unless you get indications that it's necessary.

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by JustAWhisper

That's actually not unusual! My E46 battery lasted 12 years. Battery wasn't even tendered.

BMW batteries tend to last quite a while because they are often oversized and located in the trunk for better weight distribution. This has the side benefit of putting the battery in a very benign environment where they don't tend to run down significantly on charge or experience high amplitude heat cycles. Modern BMW's have more electronics which run down the battery more, but if you put the car on a trickle charger or drive frequently enough, that also gets eliminated as a factor.

I would not worry about replacing a battery unless you get indications that it's necessary.

I think it has a lot to do with the temperature in which that battery lives while sitting parked

Batteries overall don't like cold temperatures

I live in the Pacific Northwest

They have a shorter life here

[qnet]

Originally Posted by DanG

My M2 is approaching five years old. What are other owners experience on how long our stock BMW battery lasts?

I also heard that you may have to program the car to accept a new battery. Is this true?

Did you replace your battery? I'm going on six years and haven't replaced mine. This is an old thread, but I was curious. I've gotten the battery discharge message over the years, but once I drive the car a lot it goes away. I was about to buy another battery, and have read up on how to reregister it, I'm just wondering if I actually need to get another one yet.

[jkoral]

My 135i was 10 years old, never been on a tender, parked in unheated garage in the Northeast and daily driven. Was still going strong until car got totaled.

My M2 lives on a tender because it's only driven once or twice a week. 2017 original battery, so coming up on 7 years.

[DanG]

Originally Posted by qnet

Did you replace your battery? I'm going on six years and haven't replaced mine. This is an old thread, but I was curious. I've gotten the battery discharge message over the years, but once I drive the car a lot it goes away. I was about to buy another battery, and have read up on how to reregister it, I'm just wondering if I actually need to get another one yet.

On my last service in January the technician said my battery was still good. So it hasn’t been replaced.

[qnet]

Thanks for the quick replies.

[samsamdar]

I replaced mine tentatively after 6 years just bc I was seeing the battery discharged message more often than usual. The Costco battery I got was identical specs and works just fine

[OGM2]

I park in a garage and drive anywhere from once every couple weeks to a few times a week and it’s only been on a tender a few times when it hasn’t moved for more than 2 weeks. I’ve only seen the low warning light come on once after sitting for about a month. Still going strong but I keep a portable battery jumper in the trunk that i take with me with my 4Runner as well for peace of mind. Picked up the car in Q3 2017.

[lax01]

I literally just put my original 2017 (June) battery on a battery tender yesterday as it was giving me more and more warnings when I started the car. It didn't actually take that long to get to 80% so I don't think it was that low.

[qnet]

Originally Posted by OGM2

I park in a garage and drive anywhere from once every couple weeks to a few times a week and it’s only been on a tender a few times when it hasn’t moved for more than 2 weeks. I’ve only seen the low warning light come on once after sitting for about a month. Still going strong but I keep a portable battery jumper in the trunk that i take with me with my 4Runner as well for peace of mind. Picked up the car in Q3 2017.

My situation is almost identical to yours. I also keep portable battery jumpers in both of my vehicles. Every once in a while, mostly during winter; my car may sit for a few weeks, and sometimes it's driven two or three times a week. I also use a trickle charger at times. I live in the south where it doesn't get as cold and my car is garaged year-round.

[pb335d]

7 years m2