My father says leaving a car battery on cement will in his words "kill the battery no matter what time of the year" but how does it?
by 
ZombieMovieFan
ANSWERS: 5
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I believe it is leftover lore from older technology. Car batteries were once made of materials that included glass (breakable) and rubber (porous). It is no longer so, but the temperature difference may make a difference when charging. I seriously doubt you will ever have a problem, but just to be safe I never set them directly on concrete myself.
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The only thing you'd have to worry about is charging a battery on a wet concrete floor. Wet concrete might diffuse some of the charge. A shop would probably put a battery "up on something" to get it out of the way so they don't trip on it!
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moisture
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Cement contains lime, which is an electrolyte. As one already mentioned, wet concrete will discharge a battery.Has anyone ever seen concrete (other than a sidewalk on a hot sunny day) that didn't feel moist? Concrete floors, by virtue of the fact that they're in constant contact with the (cooler) ground, are giant condensers. Concrete that isn't at least a little bit moist is a rarity. As for the battery case being in insulator: that's true, but there's more to the story. Try something. Take a test light or voltmeter and place one lead on either terminal, then place the other lead on top of the battery case. I'll bet that half of you will seen the light glow or read a voltage on the meter. This can be true with what is considered a good battery in a running vehicle. The fact the the car is frequently running (recharging the battery) keeps it from becoming a problem. Wipe the battery down with a baking soda and water solution (don't get ANY INSIDE the battery) to stop this slow discharge for a while. And, store your batteries off the floor, concrete or otherwise.
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I agree with your Dad. I lived in Kuwait for several years, every summer we'd go for a months holiday when it was v hot (July 40/50 deg C ambient). First year we left the battery in the car (Land Rover), when we came back it was dead, never to recover. Next year we took it out and left in concrete, it wouldn't start the car and needed a long charge to recover. Third year we took it out, placed it on a thick piece of wood, it restarted the car no problem. The same can be said of extreme cold, I don't know why but from experience if you insulate a car battery from a extreme cold or hot heat sink it will retain its charge longer.
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