battery life

There are two batteries in the Prius-

The Hybrid battery is the non-conventional/expensive one that ppl worry about.
It should last past the warranty.

The 12v battery is probably covered under the 3 yr / 36K mi warranty.
It's priced in the $100 range to replace out of warranty.




Prius Warranty:

2 yr /25K free Toyota Care (all scheduled maint, roadside assistance, etc)

3 yr / 36K - Full comprehensive coverage (basically what is typically referred to as the bumper-to-bumper part of the warranty)

5 yr / 60K - Powertrain coverage (Gasoline engine, transmission, and axle assembly components)

8 yr / 100K - Major Hybrid components (Inverter/Converter, Hybrid Battery, Battery Control Module, and Hybrid Control module)

10 yr / 150K - Hybrid Battery...but only on vehicles that are sold in certain states which follow the California Emission Control Warranty. Currently (CA, CT, ME, MA, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, and VT).

So most of the vehicles factory warranty coverage, including most of the computers and electronics ends at 3 years / 36,000 miles whichever is reached first.

 

Funny how I find it is the non hybrid owners or those that never intend on buying the prius or other hybrids that spread this misnomer of fear on the longevity of the hybrid battery. BTW, just in case there is a misunderstanding, I'm not referring to the OP but the general mass who don't care nor wish to know anything about the hybrid such as 1 of my friend who made a matter of fact statement right after I bought a prius, "Do u know the batteries don't last that long in one of those & they cost over $3,000 to replace". At the time, I didn't know the answer so I didn't have a response but since I have informed him(made him less ignorant of) that most last over 100,000 miles & seldomly do they go bad prematurely. It went from one ear out through the other. What u gonna do, some people never learn.

 

I have 2006 Prius with 160+k miles. The battery is out of warranty (150k miles in NY). It is still going and still getting over 50 MPG.

I must have used a lot of regen brake to recharge the battery. I still have 6mm left on the original front pads.

 

That's impressive!

 

The NiMH battery has proven to be very stable, reliable and durable. I understand your concerns and it was also one of my main concerns before getting the Prius. But on the forum here I've read taxi owners running the car for over 250k kms before requiring a new battery. When the battery does finally not take a full charge anymore you can simply send it to these guys and they'll drain and replenish new fluids for your pack.

Remanufactured Hybrid Vehicle Battery Packs

I believe the way how it works is you have to pay for the battery and a "core charge" in which you'll get your core charge back when you send the drained battery back to them. Not 100% sure if this is how they operate tho...

I've also heard similar story about owners don't have to change brake pads for over 100k kms especially when they mostly use regen to brake.

 

I have had people tell me i will have to buy new batteries every year at a cost of 3grand. I tell them toyota will replace it for free for 100k or 150k miles depending on what state you live in. They tell me thats not true. I tell them i own one and mine is over 3 years old and has 55,ooo miles on it with stock battery and it will be under full warranty for another 3 years and 45,000 miles. They don't even respond.

 

The odd part is, the HV battery is not the most expensive part of your Prius that might go bad.
Change your Transaxle fluid at 30,000 and then every 60,000 to avoid a $5000 repair because the Motor/Generators shorted out.
Never jumpstart your Prius from another car, and never jumpstart any other car with your Prius to avoid a $4000 inverter, if you mix up the cables.
Once your HV battery fails in 10+ years and/or 100,000+ miles, replace it with a used battery for under $2000

 

Warranty or not, it seems many folks with older Prii start having 12V battery trouble at about 4 years. The 2010 model seemed to have suffered an unusual number of 12V failures in the first year, possibly from a bad batch, that were replaced under some warranty.

The Prius 12V battery is a special AGM model, and I've never heard of anyone getting it for just $100, it seems to normally fall just short of $200.

Hybrid battery trouble appears more related to calendar age, temperature extremes, and sometimes to major mountain climbs as part of the daily commute, than to distance. Taxis that run up enormous distances without changing the battery have done so in relatively few years. Owners who drive less than 10k miles per year will not achieve similar distances on the original battery.

 

It should be noted that the Prius Hybrid battery is made up of 28 separate cells. You do not replace the entire battery, only the bad cells (probably about $100/each.) The batteries design life is 100,000 miles and Toronto and New York City are using Priui as Taxis, not something they would do if it were not economically feasible. Also, the charging cycle keeps the battery between 40% and 80% charged. By keeping the charge in this range, the batteries do not develop "memory" or any of the other standard problems encountered with other rechargeable batteries.
My Prius is a 2006 and I have yet to hear of ANYONE having a problem with the hybrid battery. I HAVE had to replace the 12 volt battery once (just like the starter battery on any other car) and it cost me $180.00.

Other fallacies you will hear is that the batteries are very large and heavy and that what you gain in gas efficiency you lose in lugging all that weight around. Truth is, the hybrid battery weighs in at 99 lbs and is about the size of six loaves of bread. For comparison, 20 gallons of gas weighs 126 lbs.

Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/battery-life.110216/#ixzz1xB4bfwC9​

 

Luscious garage has said that the reman batteries are no longer a viable option due to the increasing failure rate. New or used is the way to go.

Replacing an individual cell is also not a permanent fix as it require rebalancing the rest of the pack.

There is no way to avoid the fact that hybrids carry a significantly higher exposure of potential high $$ repairs than conventional cars. However, it appears so far that 200k is usually achievable without major issues, and therefore the hybrid issues are generally a non-issue.


iPhone ?

 

Would you explain what exactly does "rebalancing the rest of the pack" mean ?

 

When asked if it was true that Dallas Cowboy's coach Tom Landry never smiled, Walt Garrison answered "I don't know, I have only been here 9 years" This is our problem answering your question. When half of the batteries fail, we will know the average life of a battery. Today, all we know is that we still don't know, and that is a good thing! 'Worse', when we start getting 50% failure of 2001 batteries, that won't tell us how long the 2012 batteries last, as Toyota been changing them. (Ideally, all the changes are improvements) PiPs are Li-ion, unlike all other models in the US, which are NiMH, so all bets are off on the PiP, but the NiMH answer is "longer than any Prius has been made."

The longer before we know the answer to this question, the better the answer is!

 

You haven't been reading enough here. We should not mislead prospective owners.

While hybrid battery problems are infrequent, some problems certainly do happen, and over the years a fair number of owners have posted here seeking advice. Example from earlier this week: HV battery Dead on 2006 Prius HELP!

 

In places that have temperature extremes, such as where I live, I wonder if there is going to be a noticeable difference in battery life in people that are able to keep their vehicles in garages.

 

Besides the HV battery warranty already mentioned (8 years/100K mile in most states, 10 years/150K mile in CA and CARB states), brochures such as http://www.toyotacertified.com/ebrochures/10_prius.pdf have a statement at the end "[27] Hybrid vehicle battery expected life is 150,000 miles based on laboratory bench testing".

If one fails out of warranty, I list some options at Failed traction (HV) battery, what to do? - Prius Wiki.

 

Forgot about this thread. Post #18 and 19 sort of explain what it means:

Fears of replacing hybrid battery | PriusChat

 

Critic,
Thanks for posting the link, quite a good learning and complementing my own research on that.

 

When I purchased my Gen III Prius, it was brand new, so I've only had it about 6 months. My question/comment is that I have YET to have a "full" battery. Is this normal or not? When I have a relativity full charge, it always registers as full minus one bar of battery.