The main factor in battery life? Temperature.
The fact is that laptops just aren't designed for ... well, for laps. If you look at the bottom of your laptop you'll see it probably has feet (or more likely, bumps or rubber pads) that lift it off of any flat surface you might put it on. That creates very important space for ventilation. If you block that space, with say your lap, it's likely that you'll be causing the laptop to run hotter than it should. If you do this regularly, you'll likely shorten the lifespan of the laptop's batteries.