prius 2010 hybrid batteries dead at 126000km and up on atleast 3 taxis i know of

exactly the problem ! ! ! Remember we are only talking about the Prius

Even in the city you should do better than that, I remember hills in Athens. When coasting, ALWAYS keep your foot slightly on the brake pedal. Including downhill. When parked at a taxi stand, keep the car on and in ready, and windows closed! that way it is always warmed up. Sit inside, with the AC on, on LOW, be comfortable, and your battery will be comfortable. I will bet that you will have 4-6 bars purple and maybe even some green bars. Do not charge the Traffic light, coast, let it turn green before you there. Mostly the Prius responds best to conservative driving. Let the other idiot race to the light, always follow speed limits, EXACTLY. Remember Prius likes 41 MPH the best ! about 65KM/Hr. :cheer2: Your passengers will be happier and you will save fuel. Put a glass of water on your dash, 3/4 full, secure it. NOW drive without spilling a drop!

 

Yep, the sun shines on the righteous! Should be our town motto.

ha ha ha. This is Greek city traffic! The big city blocks of a US city are nowhere near the tight, narrow, winding rat runs of a European city.

He should still have his battery charge up more than 3 or 4 bars. Mine usually sits at 5 or 6 (out of 8). But I guess it all depends on your location.

I wonder what would happen if he leaves the car in 'Ready' all the time. That way the pumps and fans are all running keeping the engine, and 12 & HV batteries happy.

 

People have slept in Prius with AC on (LOW), overnight it used 1 gal. That is pretty miraculous. Naturally one turns off any accessories not needed. Keeping a taxi in ready for 8 hours will use i gal but increase mileage because the whole warm-up on each and every start-up is eliminated. :cheer2:

Yorkshire should be perfect for mileage, nice hills. Try, TRY keeping your foot lightly on the brake pedal at all times except when you have your foot on the accelerator. Maybe you are doing that already? :cheer2:

 

I'm looking very closely for what has happened to these hybrid batteries, Socratesthecabdriver.
Keep us posted!

 

I thought it was actually quite clear. Can Toyota prove faulty ventilation of HV, caused by clogged cooling ducts, &/or non-use of AC. Have not heard of any DTC s being volunteered. So maybe it is all rumor?

NO, it is relatively common, read archives. With city driving as most Taxis do, proper fan ventilation and use of AC is imperative !

 

Don't use the AC to cool the battery and save miniscule amounts of fuel, then you are stuck with replacing the battery early because of thermal stress... Seems straightforwards.

 

Update on my experience with running as a taxi. Now had the car on the road for a week.

The power button gets turned on when I start my shift, and only gets turned off when I take my lunch break, and at the end of the shift. A/c is running all the time - I have it on Auto, and set the temp to be 23c. The battery SOC is generally close to all bars when running, but does reduce to two bars after approx 30 mins sitting on a rank. Outside temps have only been about 23/24 all week, except today when it hit 26c, but it is very humid, so feels warmer than the actual temp.

Windows have been up for most of the shift - I do lower the window when I pull into a couple of ranks - most drivers get out on these ranks for a bit of a chat, and we need to be able to hear the radio in the case of a radio job, so window down.

Current usage after a week is 4.8 litres per 100 km - about what I expected. I really doubt that I would have saved much by not running the a/c, and certainly my passengers have appreciated the climate on getting into the car - generally to the point of getting a tip at the end of the trip (Australians generally do not tip in cabs).

Socrates, would strongly recommend changing your style with the Prius, and keep both the power and a/c on all the time, and the windows up.

 

I saw that in another thread, you have also worn out your front brake pads after a very short period. It sounds to me that your experiences are more to do with the style of driving rather than the car itself.

I have not been to Athens, but from comments from others that I know who have been there, and observing traffic in other parts of the world, I believe that the traffic in Athens is very rush and stop - that is, when an opening happens, everyone rushes to fill it, then slams on the brakes when it does fill. This will reduce your fuel economy and brake life.

Here in Sydney, we do have drivers who drive like that, but I am of the "slow and steady" group, so will have less wear and tear on my car.

Have a talk with drivers of other models of cabs - what is their experience with brake pads, and what is their fuel costs. I think that you will find that the wear and tear on their brakes will be the equivalent of your's, and that their fuel costs will be much higher, which makes the cost of a/c minimal.

 

I disagree Eric. The European Prius has much softer brake dics and pads (not sure if the Aussie one has the same) than the American market because we like brakes with more 'bite'. I replaced my front pads roughly every 30k miles and the discs were replaced at 60k.

I usually leave the a/c on but in summer I do run with the a/c off and the windows down. My one theory on why these Greek cabs are buring batteries is not the lack of a/c use or having windows down, but is if the drivers are switching the car off between jobs. Surely doing this the battery gets hot when worked but the fans keep air flow moving, but when they switch off the car when stood the fans will stop and the battery will start to cook itself. Leaving the car in Ready allows the fans to stop this happening.

My other theory is that these reports of HV failure are concentrated in one area. We all know the 12v is the Prius weak spot. Do the Greek dealers? Are these HV batteries being replaced because of a dodgy code produced by a failing 12v? The dealer (in a seriously recession hit Country) decides to replace the HV at a cost of €3000 rather than a 12v at €300? Just a cynical thought, but what fails in hot Greek summers should also be failing in hot Texas summers also.

 

Again GC, having the cooling fan partially/completely clogged is a known issue in Gen II for cars that have regular occupants in the back seat. It is no surprise whatsoever to me that Gen III cabs would have a problem too. Further, the 12V battery is a problem for cars that are seldom driven -- the 2009 of 2 fas 4 u in the 299,999 club still has the original 12V. But I suggest fitting an Optima YTS 2.7J just to be sure.

 

Assuming the above mentioned fuel economy figures are what the car is saying, with indicated values in the vicinity of 5 liters per 100 km, you need to add 0.4, to get close to actual consumption.

 

Yeah the clogged fan is an issue.

You say the 12v is an issue for cars seldom driven BUT in a taxi you have much more extra equipment running (radio, despatch computer, sat nav etc) and granted, if you leave the car in Ready you will not have a problem. But if you switch off whilst waiting for the next job (most European taxis return to and wait at ranks, and do not drive up and down waiting to be flagged) you will put strain on the 12v as well as cooking the HV battery, esp if you are waiting 30min or longer. If the next job is only short, you won't have time to correctly recharge the 12v causing premature wear.

 

Did you check whether she leaves the car in Ready all the time and do they use the a/c or have the windows down?

Maybe the gen3 is a weaker design?

 

It is going to take me some time to match your experience, Grumpy, (I have only had the car on the road for 7 days/1800 kms so far) but I agree with the concept of leaving the power on for the entire shift.

The last two days have been very slow here in Sydney (most Australians take the three working days betwen Christmas and New Year Day off, so very little business work) and I have seen my fuel consumption go up (current Sydney price is $1.48 per litre). Sitting on the rank and having the engine start to power up the hv battery was quite common - worst case was 2 hours between jobs - but the cost increase was just $2.00 for the day over the previous week when I was fairly busy. I am willing to pay that little extra to not worry about draining the 12v battery or hv over heating.

 

I drove over the summer in the Texas heat this year without use of the A/C for city driving. I hope I didn't shave off too many usable years of the battery life. :0

 

Does anybody know if Toyota designed the Gen3 to have the hybrid battery system cool after stopping, by using juice from the 12V battery when a car is turned off and/or put in accessory mode after driving?

My previous car had a turbo and the radiator fan continued running after I have shut off the engine and pull the key out of the ignition. It's called a turbo timer. May be Toyota needs to amend their firmware for the Prius and have the hybrid ventilation fan to continue running from the 12V battery after a car is power down for another 3-5mins. Call it a hybrid battery cooling timer!

Sounds like a good way to avoid premature warranty claims and dead expensive Nickel Metal Hydrate battery replacement. Just get a good strong 12V like an dry cell Optima Yellow Top deep cycle battery. Those 2 work around should solve you cabby's problem and prolong the life of our regular owner's hybrid battery too!

 

It does not do this. A design flaw, IMHO.