That shouldn't really be a great surprise, a large 200 volt 1300 Watt-hr battery versus a small 12 volt 350 Watt-hr one. I mean, is it even anywhere near a fair comparison? This is what you're basing the "huge toxic battery" claim on? Hmm
Producing batteries of any sort generally causes environmental damage. The Nickel in the EV and hybrid batteries has to be mined, and then smelted. Of course, all metals have to be mined, but nickel requires more energy use. This also causes the battery to be extremely toxic if mishandled. I still believe in hybrid technology, of course, and want more of them on the road.
No failure yet, but the MFD display spends more time in the green and purple the past years. Apparently it's gradually loosing capacity. My '06 has 89,400 miles on it. Still 10,000 plus miles and 3 months on the warranty.
No failure on my 2001 Gen 1 (129k miles) and no failure on my 2005 (154k miles). So I should get two votes (lol).
249,000 miles, no failure. Still get 41-44MPG. Only a handful of hills each year, but gets hot ( over 100) during a couple summer months.
I had the same reaction, but then I thought the data does give a hint to this question: If the traction battery is going to have problems, when is the likely window ? By the survey `we could guess around 150-200k miles.
I don't think the question is "if", rather the question is "when". Everyone will eventually experience a traction battery failure unless the car is sold first, or totaled via accident. When this failure will happen is dependent upon odometer reading, battery age, ambient air temp, amount of mountainous driving, and random variations in battery module construction.
My comment was only meant to be read in the context of what the survey question and results might tell us. Since the large majority of batteries, including those in the 150k - 200k mile range, have not failed yet, the 'when' is opaque and can only be attached to a small subset of owners.
2004 with 230,000 miles replaced one module with a used eBay unit and back on the road for $30. I don't have balance chargers but I'm looking daily as I think this might be a bandaid without balancing but it's working so far at around 1000 mile mark. The repairs wouldn't have been possible without the help of this site!!! iPhone ?
As a small dealer who only sells Prius, I can tell you that I have seen just about every problem these can have. I have sold over 400 Gen II and I have only seen 3 with bad batteries. One was a 2007 with 173k (last month), 2006 145k (now), and a 2005 with 160k (last week). All of these cars still ran well and still achieved low 40's mpg. Your dash will light up like a Christmas tree, and the fans for the battery will kick in overdrive and it will sound like you left the radio on static in the rear seats. I have sold these cars anywhere from 30,000 miles, to as high as 411,000 miles and all I can tell you is that this is the best car on the road. Most of my high mileage Prius are at 300,000+ miles with original power train and battery. The battery very reliable and all I can say is that it goes whenever it goes, but with the right research you can fix it for less than the cost of replacing a timing belt on regular cars.
Mine went at 143000. The guy I bought it from said he ran out of gas 1 time and drained the battery to the point of a no start. Had he not ran out of gas and killed the battery I suspect it would have gone longer but then I would have had to pay for the replacement.
