They do if the battery is past it and needs replacing. They don't hold their charge so go flat very quickly.
Exactly that. In a car the main power comes from the Alternator thats the device that generates the power when the engines running the battery just stores it, mainly to get the car started by the starer motor which turns the engine to get it to go., That however takes a lot of current, several hundred amps to do that function, around 400 for a small family car to around a 1000 amps for a bIgger SUV type.
The battery hasnt changed much over the last hundred years it a chemical store of lead metal plates in sulphuric acid when power is put into it then that causes chemical changes to the acid electroyte. When power is neeeded the chemical action reverses and produces leccy.
However if the battery has aged then it wont perform that function as well it may have enough energy to light up a few lamps in the car probally say 10 amps or so but the starter motor needs the hundreds of amps so the usual click of the styarter motor swich it may grunt a bit as it tries to run the engine and the lights willdo t and thats it no start hence the need to the "jump" start from another vehicle's battery.
Now this can happen to a car with a good battery as these days all cars have imobliser sytstem that draws a bit of power maybe less then half of an amp the battery has say 50 amps hour storage so that means it will run down if left unused or not charged up for a while manbe a few weeks thats why airport car parks have a man you can come and give you a jump start, once the engines running the battery will recarge and alls well:)
However again it can well be that the Alternator is not working that well, good devices much better then the Dynamo of old!, this can happen if the so called "fan belt" is a bit loose and it slips so the alternator can not run at its rated speed and output that to can give the impression that the batterys duff, and the battery isnt duff, its just not getting charged as it ought!
If the alternator devlops a fault the IGN light or BATT or ALT lights will warn you that this is happening so the battery then has to supply the car power needs so you need to get it fixed ASAP, else you wont be going anywhere! no cars or diesel will run without power!
So matey and co most likey had a car with a duff battery then got going via a jump start the battery being duff either wasnt holding the charge or probally hadnt been running long enough to be recharged it does take time. So they parked next to OP to rob the bank, get some fags or baccy, got back in the car tried to restart |!! damm !! bloody batterys flat again need another jump start to get it running again hopelly this time to vist Kwick Fit to get a new one but thay needed a start! saw the OP and her nice Audi and thought she'll helps us out and when she didn't they probally said somethimng not niace and muttred "bitch" and thats that!
And before the lecture is over just one other thing! You'll probaly have expeerenced that somtimes on sudden cold winter mornings the battery seems to have gone flat and won't start the car?
Whys this? Simples!, remeber its a chemical reaction that makes the power?, well chemical reactions work better at higher tempertures so much lower temps the reaction is much less battery aging so not as good as it was, car cold, Oil more sticky then it was due to lower temps more power needed by starter motor to turn the engine over, poor old battery gets more demand that it can deliver so car? no go!!