Car struggled to start this morning - have I drained my battery (again)

[CarAnxiety101]

As per my username I do experience heighted anxiety when it comes to cars having had really crap past experiences with cars garages and obviously then money spent rectifying things!
My current car is a Nissan Qashqai 2023 plate, bought in feb 2025. lovely car, am happy , its got low miles and I took out the extra extended warranty for peace of mind.
it went to Nissan in March 2026 for a recall (a grommet fitted to secure the fuel line?) and they gave me a free health check. upon result of this health check it needed a new battery as the old one was not holding charge. if relevant it is a 1.3 or 1.5 (cant remember which) petrol mild hybrid. so my battery was changed(the normal battery).
so all fine.

THIS morning, I jumped in the car, drove my 3 miles to my childs school. jumped back in the car drove my 2 miles to petrol station on my way to work. when i filled up and got back in the car however, it was struggling to start, just ticking over. i turned it off, and started again and it started first time.

so this is relevant, my driving i do alot of small journeys. my commute is 3 miles to school, 2 miles to work. then at the end of the day 2 miles to school, 3 miles home. looking at the calendar,. i have not done a long journey (over 15 minutes) since 3rd or 4th October, and am due to do that longer journey (35 mins there, 35 mins back) this evening to see a relative.
it was also only 9 degrees this morning so colder than usual.

SO given all the above, and my short journeys, does anyone know if it sounds reasonable to assume it was indeed the battery and that my long journey planned for this evening will charge it up again ?
(i am aware i should make a habit more often to drive for 30 minutes on the motorway)

Everything electrical you use in the car comes from the battery, so if you're doing short journeys in the cold weather with lights, heater, fan, radio, heated seats or whatever, it's using a lot of energy, and not really getting a chance to recharge. If you can take a slightly longer way home from school runs, and switch off everything non-essential on the journey home, you may find it helps. Also be sure, if you have lights in your sunshields, that those haven't been accidentally left on, they can drain a battery overnight.

It might be your alternator, although that's a very 'young' car to have either the battery or alternator (or most things) fail.

To be honest, I'd be very wary of a garage (especially a main dealer) offering a 'free health check', as it's an open invitation for them to find something, however minor (or even invented), that just so happens to provide them with a money-making opportunity.

Even better for them if they can say that you need a new battery, and then they 'discover' that it wasn't the battery, "but at least you have a brand new battery now, which is always reassuring"; and then they can go through several more (expensive) replacements that you 'need' before finally 'discovering' what the actual problem was.

This is why lots of people who don't have a good, longstanding relationship with a trustworthy garage have their cars MoT'd or checked over at one garage and make it clear that they'll be going to another one for any work that's needed (and also for a second opinion on any 'faults'); but of course, as they well know and use to their advantage, this is far more difficult if you're limited to using main dealers.

Also be on your guard for dealerships that will recommend replacing consumables long before necessary. Yes, a tyre that has 97% of its original grip left is technically 'less safe' than a brand new one; but in the real world, it's ridiculous and horribly wasteful to suggest changing it it.

You'll likely also find that your old 'less safe' tyre will be sold on to a third party and end up on somebody else's car as a 'as good as new' replacement!

A low mileage 3 year old car shouldnt need a new battery should it?

Like PPs I steer well clear of the sharks at main dealers

Many batteries are only guaranteed for 2 or 3 years. Ones with a 5 year guarantee are bailable, but cost more.

The low mileage isn’t relevant. The number of times the engine is started, in relation to the length of journey, is. Lots of short journeys is a killer for batteries.

from googling im now worried ive long term damaged the battery. fingers crossed a long drive tonight charges it and sorts it out

Hard to tell.

It could be

a) your general usage profile is draining the battery.

b) You accidentally left something on like maybe an interior light that you didn't notice, or the parking lights.

c) The battery is dodgy and has died before you'd normally expect it to. Maybe your "new" battery isn't quite as new as you thought it was.

d) The battery charging mechnaism is at fault.

e) You drained the battery to a low point, then the cold finished it off.

f) Some other thing to do with the hybrid gubbins, which makes hybrids a lot more complicated.

Hard to know which.

When you say "it was just ticking over" do you mean that the starter motor was turning the engine but it wasn't firing up ? Normally you can tell when the battery is well charged because when you try to start the starter motor turns the engine vigourously. When the battery is low it really labours and you can hear how slow it is.

If the starter motor is still turning the engine vigourously and it doesn't or takes a long time to fire, then it is more likely due to something like the injectors or the ignition coils.

@GasPanic it was just doing a quiet clicking noise ? does that help

Not really.

When the starter motor engages you can normally hear it turning the engine over quite clearly if the engine doesn't fire.

Maybe hybrids work differently and use the electric part to turn the engine over instead. IDK.

I have a hybrid. And I do know that my next car definitely will not be a hybrid.

The quite clicking will be the starter motor solenoid, if it then started ok the battery is good. Possibly a poor connection on to one of the battery terminals, don't put the lights, fan, window demister or heated seats on before the engine is running. Starter motor solenoids do fail, many years ago I had an Alfa Sud where you occasionally needed to give the solenoid a whack with a spanner - that was the least of that cars problems.