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Battery Life

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by spiderman, Jul 17, 2009.

  1. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    I was reading in the owners manual that the battery "has a limited service life". Hmm, I wonder what that mean exactally. And of course the lifespan varys depending on driving habits.
    So with that said, does anyone know about how much life I should expect? I am really wondering how our cold winters up here in AK will effect the battery. Guess I am going to find out!

    Peter
     
    #1 spiderman, Jul 17, 2009
  2. wave_slider

    wave_slider New Member

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    The warranty on the battery is for 8 years or 100k miles here in Hawaii. I think CA and some other states are 10 years / 100k. I don't have a reference, but I believe the battery was tested to 160k. At that point the charge of the battery was still good and the testing ended. Toyota says the battery should last 150k miles.
     
    #2 wave_slider, Jul 17, 2009
  3. wvgasguy

    wvgasguy New Member

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    Every thing, including you, has a "limited service life". What that means is it won't last forever. From the thousands of comments in various posts here and on various websites this should not be a concern. I don't really see where driving habits will matter much either as the computer maintains the SOC. The only thing that can screw it up are people making alterations to the system.
     
    #3 wvgasguy, Jul 17, 2009
  4. wvgasguy

    wvgasguy New Member

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    They have to put something as a guideline so when they say it should last 150,000 miles that would be their minimum expectation. For those wondering why they don't warrant it that long then think about the rest of the car. Do they expect the powertrain to only last 60,000 miles or the other components to only last 36,000 miles? Those things do wear out and they do depend on how the driver takes care of the car. However the battery when left to itself and the computer should outlast just about any other component in the car.
     
    #4 wvgasguy, Jul 17, 2009
  5. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    Its actually 10 yrs / 150k for California and California emissions states. The Prius is a AT-PZEV for California which requires the longer warranty.
     
    #5 dogfriend, Jul 17, 2009
  6. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    So the long and short of it is, under normal circumstances, the traction battery is a warranted item and should it fail before the 7year/100K period, it will be replaced free of charge. They got the weasel clause in there just in case.

    After reading further in the Owners manual last night I discovered I should have been a little more specific in this post's title. The Prius also has a standard 12v battery as well. Duh. I suspect that battery is recharge from the regen process? Or is there an alternator somewhere?

    Thanks for the feedback,
    Peter
     
    #6 spiderman, Jul 17, 2009
  7. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    There is no alternator. There is a DC to DC converter that converts from 201 V DC to approx 13.7 V DC to charge the 12V battery. The 12V battery and DC power bus are supplied by the traction battery whenever the car is in "Ready" mode.
     
    #7 dogfriend, Jul 17, 2009
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  8. wave_slider

    wave_slider New Member

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    That's one heck of a warranty on hybrid components! :rockon:
     
    #8 wave_slider, Jul 17, 2009
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