Imagine yourself driving a car. You might be using your windshield wipers, listening to the radio, using the interior lights, and needing your headlights to see. All of those systems require electricity, and the alternator is the component that's responsible for providing that energy.
If you're like many of our customers at Woody Folsom Chevrolet Buick GMC in Baxley, GA, you may have thought that the battery was solely in charge of giving your vehicle electricity. The battery is used for power when the engine is off, and it provides the engine with the power necessary to get started. However, the majority of the electricity that you use in a vehicle is created by the alternator.
Perhaps the most important job of the alternator is to allow the battery to recharge itself when the engine is on. Batteries can last for many years, but only because alternators are working together with them to give them the power they need.