Average battery life

Here how to set records on battery miles.

* Keep fan blades clean.

* Leave rear seats up when not needed. To thick down and keeps more heat in the battery. Tested on my Scan Gauge.

* Run the AC and point the control down always to get some flow below. Make sure the vent is never blocked or the exhaust in the cargo area!

* Use the Scan Gauge to check temps and keep them below 100s F by running the HVB fan on high speed. You can hear the fan run louder. This is one the best things you can do. Toyota runs the fan very convertive and it gets very hot! This is why a lot of batteries fail in hotter places.

* Balance the cells once in a while with a kit.


Do this if you really want the HVB to last for FAR longer.

 

My second get needed a used pack at 210k because I ran it in ev mode for the last mile going home every day. Then in Florida heat it deep cycled as the ice doesn't turn on for ten seconds after startup. I learned my lesson. I shouldn't have installed an ev switch. I also learned to turn the AC off in car washes where the car is in neutral and ac is blasting. And I learned to tap the gas at startup so the ice turns on, and the battery is not cycled at startup. Despite this my third gen needed a pack at 225k because my gf doesn't do this. She turn it on and goes. The ice is programmed not to rev up and the battery gets depleted upon acceleration every morning. I now have another third gen and so fat ao good at150k. Of the nine print in my group of friends one other will need a pack soon and it has 240k.

 

The startup scenario you mention sounds like superstition. I doubt tapping the gas at startup makes any difference.

Making it to 200k is a a pretty huge accomplishment for any battery pack and is beyond what is considered average life.

 

Some cars need superstitious handling, others don't

I've done well by second guessing some of my old rickety cars and playing tricks on them to make them work better. With the prius, the first new car in the family, I've decided to go the other way. I just buckle up and drive. So does my wife, and she drives it much more than me.

So far it's working fine. We're on track to do 20k miles per year, and we intend to operate the car until 2026. We will either retire it or re-evaluate then.

I feel like we have a decent chance of seeing 8 years/160k miles without major electromechanical drama, especially if we let all the automatic stuff work the way the engineers set it up.

 

I'm at 115k miles in 7 years. Original 12v and original traction battery.

 

I have done hundreds of hybrid batteries for customers over the past decade. I suppose if I was a numbers guy I could have analyzed the data for fun.

 

Was there a number that jumped out a lot? Say, over 200k or 150k miles? Or did you just not care to pay enough attention?

 

Really is a combination of age and miles.
A 10 year old car with 50,000 miles on it can be just as concerning as a 2 year old car with 200,000 miles on it.

Assuming the car is driven regularly and not allowed to sit for ling periods...

My non-scientific guess is that there is sort of a bell curve or failures between 150,000 and 250,000.

On a similar note there is also a bell curve for failures because of age as well. Maybe between 8 and 15 years.

These are just my gut feelings. It would be interesting to go back and review actual data, though.

I report the year and mileage of battery failures to Toyota. Would be interesting if they would share their database.

 

What about your database?

Presumably you have records of all the ones you've worked on. Maybe if primary business slows down you could sell individual peeks at the data for a buck, since there's a good stream of used car shoppers asking longevity questions.

 

You might see a way to monetize it but I guess I don't see it. Information want to be free so eventually it would come to that.

But realistically, I'd never get to this project due to other competing priorities. Would be a good thing for an intern I suppose.

Take a look at my shop Facebook page and you'll see a shot of my latest pile of parts to be recycled from the hybrid batteries I have installed.
https://facebook.com/hybridbatteryhero
Plenty there to keep me busy.

 

Yes. At 210k the battery was short cycling and basically dead. I live in Florida and don't drive gently at all. I'd guess my battery life is average. I get the packs for $700. Well worth ownership. Love this car

 

Hmmm.

I guess I blissfully assumed I would get 200K miles out of my battery pack because folks at the dealer kept saying it's common-place. Now with seeing actual experiences of C owners... it looks less likely.

I just turned 130K miles on my 2012 C... and now I'm concerned that despite the car being astoundingly reliable in every other way... at this time I'm heading into the "tick-tock" zone just waiting for the HV battery to fail.

My goal was to get 200K miles because, by then, all-electric vehicle options would be more affordable, plentiful, and with greater range than what's currently available. If the battery died today options like the Bolt are still too expensive and don't have 300mi+ range. By 2020 there might be a few better options with more manufacturers getting behind EV, and by the early 2020s there should be lots of options... right when I'd probably be getting close to 200K miles on the C.

Ugh... well... I suppose I can keep my fingers crossed!

I commute about 66 miles daily which is mostly highway but with plenty of stop/go traffic.

 

You are correct that there is a good chance you will not make it to 200k before you need a pack.
Start saving now.

 

Hi guys and girls, i just picked up a 2013 PC with 42,000km on the clock right now. What are your thoughts? I run the Dr prius app anf it tells me all my cells are balanced on loading and charging test including a capacity test showing 85%+ of life left. It was really cold running that test. AC on with fans plowing for nearly 25 min straight on a full battery.
I feel confident at this point that the battery is in good condition. I'm trying to learn how not to over discharge the battery when I'm driving.
Let me explain, the engine kicks in in 2.5 condition to charge the battery: 1. When capacity falls under 40%. 2. When more than EV power is demanded and 2.5 when your engine is cold but you turn on the heater, its more like a indirect charge.
However it doesn't kick in to help the battery when you are in the grey zone.
Grey zone: when you are under 144v but above 40% capacity within the EV power band. It will continue to drain the battery all the way to 125v if you load the motor at 45% capacity. Engine will not kick in due to the grey zone specification and you will be damaging the chemistry of the battery a little bit at a time.
My suggestion is to not make the electric motor work too hard and draw too much current when the battery indicator is below the midline.

 

Just drive it.

Unless the engine can't start, it will just start up when it needs to recharge the battery. (As always, avoid N, the engine can neither start nor stop in N. Toyota is required by US law to have an N, you are never required to use it)

 

Hi Jim,

This is what I'm trying to explain, that the engine within the grey zone will not start even while you are over discharging the battery.

Im trying to explain that there will be a narrow window when the voltage will tank and engine will not kick in until sub 40% capacity is reached or when you demand more hp then the electric motor is capable. This is a very narrow window and mostly people don't even know its happening unless they have a live feed of the battery in front of them, usually the voltage will dip 20v below 144v. The nickel metal hydride battery dont like heat and also over discharge, these are the two major element which age the cells. I'm proposing to stay above the midline which is my understanding of the Holy Grail for the battery, theoretically they should last "long" without heat or over discharge.

 

I never am, and unless you are doing something very weird, neither are you.

The most common way to 'hurt' the battery is to not drive the car. Taxis get phenomenal battery life as they are never not driving the car.

 

I'll figure out a way to take a snap shot of it on my phone so you can understand what I'm trying to explain. Taxis drive a lot and usually they are in a hurry so they use the ICE on pickup and only use electric when in very bad traffic stop and go, even then they are still juicing the ICE when ever they step on it. What i mean about learning to not over discharge in somewhat is to drive like a taxi. You can still achieve the 30km/l but don't cruise with high speed on electric when your battery is lower then middle of the indicator. Your average will take a hit like maybe 28km/l instead of plus 30km/l but you will not be over discharging the battery.

 

if you floor it, the engine will start

 

I was able to achieve this on a regular basis in the city doing average of 50-60km/h with a efficiency of 30km/l. I tried to do the same on highway doing 100km+ but was only able to achieve 24-26km/l at best. I'm going to install the vvti upgrade seloniod wich claims it can do 30km+ on highway too.
But for doing the 30km/l maneuver I have to remember not to over draw on my glides.