You may have read stories of Vancouver, Canada Prius taxi drivers getting 400.000 kms on the same hybrid battery. I selected Vancouver taxi mechanics to work on my car. One of the mechanics shared with me that Prii used in taxi service do last a long time, however, if those same vehicles are taken out of taxi service and only driven short distances to work and home, for example, the battery does not last. In effect, infrequent, short distance driving kills the hybrid battery. Regular, slight charging/discharging throughout the day is beneficial to the battery. Not knowing this, I just bought a Prius 3 weeks ago, largely for my daily 20 km commute (comments on Priuschat state that this is not enough use - 50 km per day minimum, is good). It's my dream car. My question is, is there means to mimic frequent driving (perhaps, through charging) so the battery receives slight charges/discharges within a few bars of the middle of the battery's charging capacity? I understand it is this regular, slight charging/discharging that contributes to the battery's longevity. I want to keep the battery in good shape for a long time but I don't want to burn a lot of gas and needlessly drive the car to do so.
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.
We use the block heater almost without fail, think that would help with low usage: accelerates warm up.
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.
Thank you for your message. In answer to your questions: It has 141,000 kms. My commute is 12.5 miles total. I don't leave the car sitting for long periods of time. The hybrid mechanic used the example of a car that is taken out of service and soon thereafter looses it's hybrid battery capacity to illustrate his point that it's the regular charge/discharge of taxi hybrid batteries that keeps Prius taxis going for hundreds of thousands of miles. Thank you, again.
Hi Mendel, Thank you for your message. I see you're in the GVRD. If I may ask, where do you take your car for servicing? Thanks also for your feedback on the usage issue. Thanks again.
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.
