Battery failure - how can we avoid it?

[Ken_L]

The 5 year old battery in my Magna failed suddenly today. With hardly any warning apart from a very slight amount of extra cranking to start the engine for a few weeks, the battery literally dropped dead in a shopping centre car park. It didn't even have enough power to run the radio!

The NRMA replaced the battery and off we went, but as we waited I reflected that batteries are the weakest link in a well maintained car. Just think about how carefully most keen car owners service their vehicles, to maintain the ability to just start it any time and go anywhere, no questions asked. No service centre or mechanic, however, will really be able to predict the sudden failure of the modern car battery. What if it fails at a remote spot in the boondocks, out of mobile phone range?

Has anyone out there come up with a foolproof way of preventing being dumped, anywhere, anytime, by battery failure? I guess we could simply replace it routinely every two years, but that sounds a tad expensive. Would a more expensive battery, say gel technology, be any better?