On Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:05:26 +0000, Clive George
wrote:

My friend's Lada manual had a bit saying if it was really cold, turn the
headlamps on to warm the battery up before trying to start :-)

Nothing wrong with doing that. Standard practice in cold countries.
A slightly less than frozen, partly discharged battery turns over an
engine better than a fully charged near frozen battery.

Mains fed battery heaters are another option.

Even better is a heated garage at both ends of your journey

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