Best Car Battery Chargers: Keep Your Car Battery Lasting Longer

When it comes to choosing the best car battery chargers, I wanted to provide you with a well-rounded list that features a good variety of reputable manufacturers with solid track records of providing high-quality, reliable products. I included a wide range of price points to suit any budget. I focused on battery chargers that use the latest technology and that feature innovative, high-tech designs suitable for a wide variety of vehicles. I also narrowed the list by leaving off anything that’s more suited for professional commercial use. This list focuses more on everyday personal-use chargers that are great for keeping in your home garage. For more information on the selection criteria, click this link to The Drive’s Gear About page, which explains our methodology further.

If you want the best overall car battery charger in terms of power, dependability, ease of use, versatility, and price point, my top pick is the NOCO Genius5 Fully-Automatic Smart Charger. This model is designed for use with 6- or 12-volt batteries and can be safely used on marine, powersport, RV, and deep-cycle batteries, making it a versatile choice. For a high-quality, budget-conscious choice, consider the Battery Tender Junior 12V Charger and Maintainer. It’s an excellent choice if you want a super budget-friendly and reliable charger for your favorite toys.

While there are many similarities between most of the best car battery chargers on the market, it’s not a one-size-fits-all consideration. There are several important key factors to familiarize yourself with to ensure you’re getting the best choice to suit your needs and that will hold up to the serious wear and tear over time and continue to deliver reliable power when you need it most.

A battery charger’s rated voltage is the measure of its strength, essentially. The voltage determines if a particular charger is strong enough to fully recharge your particular vehicle’s battery. Since most cars run on a 12-volt system, this is pretty straightforward. However, if you’re looking for a charger that will do double-duty and charge your powersports, golf carts, etc., consider getting a charger that offers 6- or 24-volt options as well.

Amperage is the measure of current the charger will put through it while it’s working. Generally, a higher amperage equals faster charging times. Most car battery chargers fall in the range of 5-8 amps. If you want super fast charging times, consider going for 10-30 amps. If you’re looking to leave something plugged in all winter or during an off-season, lower amperage is likely fine.

In today’s busy and fast-paced society, you probably don’t have a ton of extra time to sit around checking and rechecking your battery charger. Look for a charger that offers automatic sensors and functionality that will monitor all stages of charging and switch into float mode once your battery is sufficiently charged to prevent overcharging and damage to your battery.

A high-quality car battery charger will have a bunch of extra safety features built-in to prevent accidental damage to the battery or fire. Functions that prevent overcharging, short-circuiting, reversed polarity, over-temperature, and over-voltage are very important when it comes to safe use and user-friendliness.

You can find a basic, straightforward car battery charger that is reliable and will deliver dependable results for quite some time for between $35 and $65. $75 and up will get you a heavy-duty, higher amperage, more technologically advanced car battery charger that can also act as a maintainer or desulfator, and in many cases, even a jump starter. These will also be backed by longer warranties and may come with accessory options, such as extension cables and wall mounts.

You’ve got questions. The Drive has answers.