Hello, does anyone know how long the battery lasts before you have to replace it? Also, how much does it cost for a new battery, I heard it was expensive, that is why one of my friend's parents decided not to buy one. Is she crazy or do they really cost a TON!?
There are over 100,000 of these cars on the road, the first ones since 1997 in Japan. I have read that no drive battery has yet to be replaced, although a small number had bad cells that were replaced. It is warranteed for 7 or 8 years, 100k miles anyway, so I would not worry about it, Pete. Does this mean you're going to hold out for the most remarkable car on the planet? :mrgreen:
Plus, when a battery is running out of it's life, apparently what'll happen is that some cells will die out, while others will be fine - so at the most you could expect to have to replace some of the cells here and there, as opposed to the whole thing. FWIW though, a dealer told me the whole battery costs $3k - but take that as a grain of salt, it's from a dealer who may or may not know really. -m.
There's an 8-year 100,000-mile warantee on that whole system, so that's not a great reason to decide against the car.
If you go out and drive a spike through all the cells in your battery today, or you try to modify the electrical system and fry the battery, or, in some other way destroy the battery in a way that would not be covered by the 8/100k (150k in CA) warranty and had to go replace it today? Then, you probably would have to pay about $3000 to replace it. However, if you drive your car 8 years and 1 day or 101k miles and it suddenly, unexpectedly dies and you have not choice but to replace it most people are speculating that a replacement by that time will be in the $1000-1500 range. If you go out and slam your automatic transmission into reverse while driving 70mph down the freeway in your Acura TL, or your drunken buddy in the passenger seat does it for you it'll cost you about the same to replace the transmission. This really isn't a major issue...there's fear about new technology, some of it warranted, but the Prius has been on the road for some 7 years+ now with no reports of any major battery issues, Toyota has been stellar about replacing the rare few that have needed it and have been agressive about investigating the cause of failure when it occured. I think it is possible to replace individual cells, should they fail, but in all honesty I don't think individual cells will be replaced very often. I'm not even supposed to put batteries of different ages in my kids RC cars, I certainly don't think it would be a good idea in a battery like the one in the Prius.
Ask the cabbie in Vancouver, BC who drove his Prius taxi 247,000 miles until Toyota bought it back from him and gave him an '04. Feel better now? This is about the LEAST worrisome factor I can think of. Bob
What we have here is an issue of risk assessment: What is the probability of a given occurance, and what would be the consequences? The Toyota traction battery has been in service for 6 or 7 years, in many many thousands of vehicles, and the failure rate has been virtually nil. It appears to be far more reliable than a conventional automatic transmission, and costs about the same. And by the time the warranty expires, it can be expected to be cheaper. This is the wrong reason not to buy a Prius. You are much more likely to be killed in an accident by a drunken cowboy in an SUV than to have a Toyota hybrid traction battery fail. Or more to the point, you are more likely to hit by big repair bills with any American-made car. Rather than worrying about any given component, you should be looking at the overall reliability of the car. Any Toyota is a good bet (as is any Honda). Don't worry about the battery. Make your choice based on cost and features. (And the Prius is a car with lots of cool features, and a price that's a bargain for the quality and features that you get.)
QUICK! What are the odds of this happening so I can start taking preventative maintenance by shooting out the tires of every SUV I see? :guns: -m.
