Vancouver, Can. Prius Taxi Mech. Says Infrequent Driving Kills Battery

20 km (12.5 mile) is one way or RT? 12.5 mile one way is fine.
You're saying a Gen2 2007 Prius? How many mikes/km on her?
We do not really have too much info that says shorts trips hurts the Hybrid battery. Although it does sometimes seem like older Gen2 with low miles can have the battery go bad. Maybe more age than miles.
However, on a Gen2 sometimes you can get into issues with the small 12v battery becuase it charges slowly and a steady diet of really short trips may not bring it to full charge. Also if you let it sit the 12v can discharge due to SKS key system demands (Switch under steering wheel).

 

That 20 km commute is 10 km each way?

That's not bad, you'll be ok.

Ours sat from date of manufacture, in August of 2009, to our purchase in November 2010. With about 10 km on the odometer. The 12 volt battery was toast, but hybrid battery fine.

For the first 3 years it was mainly my wife's weekday vehicle, low usage, about 12,000 kms per year. Now we're both retired and usage is even lower, maybe 8000 km per year.

So far the hybrid battery behaves normally, stays around 2/3 to 4/5 full in normal driving. In low speed around town I can run it down, but it recovers quickly and without complaint.

That said, I'd be cognizant of use; don't let it drop too low. A good weekend drive once in a while? And if you've got several errands, consolidate them, make one longer run.

 

I don't know about hybrid batteries, but my rule of thumb for ICE autos in general is they should be run at least 20 minutes at a time. Any less shortens their life. If I were to translate this to a one way trip of 48 kph average speed, that would be 16 km.

I assume our Prii have been designed around this typical usage scenario.

 

Leading question: why were the Prii taken out of taxi service.

 

We use the block heater almost without fail, think that would help with low usage: accelerates warm up.

 

To change drivers?

 

On that note, why did the chicken cross the road ?

 

One of the funniest parodies I ever read was of MLK's 'I have a dream' speech
An orating chicken was heard to say "I dream that one day, chickens will not be asked 'why?'

 

Could it be that the taxi service used up 98% of the vehicle's useful life - so after the vehicle was retired from taxi service it died soon thereafter? Certainly it is not reasonable to expect the traction battery to last forever given the design life is ~180K miles.

I am not aware of such a means. Some owners have purchased grid chargers for periodic use, and you can read their posts and decide for yourself whether there is any value to such use or not.

 

how many miles on her?

 

12.5 miles is a fine commute for everyday service. but if you're talking long term battery life, like the taxi's, no one really knows. the mechanic could be right, but it's going to be hard to duplicate taxi service, most of us just drive 'em. you're definitely in the ballpark of a failure in the next 50-100,000 miles.

 

We use Open Road Port Moody, but mainly because they're nearby, and the dealership we purchased from. But, that's been only for recalls so far, I'm doing my own basic maintenance. FWIW, they have dynamite price on Toyota 0W-20: $5.63 per liter.

They're ok, did scratch up our wiper arms a small amount, doing the master cylinder recall. Have a nice car wash.

 

The block heater is not stock, you have to purchase separately. Toyota Canada website now shows it for around $250 installed. Good 'ol Open Road Pomo charged me $400, at time of purchase.

I would not take it on, if they'll do it for around $250, it's a bit of a bear, for access.