Theoretically how long will the Prius last?

There are still many Gen 2 with original batteries working fine almost 15yrs old. Consumer reports tested 10 year old PRIUS with 320,000km against one from 10 years before with only 3,000km and said there was "little difference in performance".

Like anything, it can fail. If it fails within the warranty, TOYOTA will replace. If it fails beyond warranty, the cost of replacement batteries has plummeted over recent years, so if divided by the number of years, will very likely be much less than the savings in fuel, brakes etc already achieved.

[That's NiMH - Li-ION are newer technology, so length of life isn't as well known.]

 

The traction battery is warranted for 8 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. From what I've seen while researching 2nd & 3rd generation Prii, it's highly unlikely for a traction battery to fail within warranty, but it you're unlucky, Toyota will cover it. After warranty expires, the traction battery has between a 3-15% chance of failing if it has Nickel Metal Hydride chemistry, and we don't yet know the numbers for Lithium Ion batteries.

I like the advice by @Tideland Prius to expect a typical car lifetime from the hybrid battery.

 

Am I missing something here? You bought a car and didn't ask the dealer what the warranty was?

 

I'm not the one who bought his car without knowing very much about it and having to ask on here, but you may not be smart enough to see that IIRC.

 

there is no answer the the question.

there are averages, but we are not privy to them.

there is a warranty, so, no need for an answer within that time/mile period.

only the hybrid system gets 8/100.

we do have anecdotal reports as evidenced here, but no one is keeping track.

some batteries fail within warranty, some shortly after, some well after.

some a/c compressors go out after the 3 year warranty to the tune of $2,500.

some trannies go early.

most prius last a long time without any major problems.

 

Agreed, with any car, it's not possible to predict.

We bought a '95 Mazda and similar sized (both 1.6l) Nissan. The A/C on the Mazda was still running when we sold it 16 years later, the Nissan A/C had lasted less than 4 years before the compressor needed replacing.

 

The short and most honest answer is: we don't know.

For the longer answer, there are quite a few variations of lithium ion batteries currently produced. While they all use lithium, the rest of their chemistry is different and each is optomized for a particular feature or application. In addition to our having little or no knowledge of the specific chemistry Toyota is using, we also don't know exactly what charge, discharge, and cell balancing parameters they have set for the batteries to ensure they remain usable for an extended time. And because Toyota's lithium ion car batteries have only been in use for 2 years, we have not had a chance to observe what happens to them over extended use. While I think it's safe to say the lithium ion batteries in the Prius will fail more rapidly than those in Chevrolet or Tesla cars that use liquid cooling, that still leaves a wide range of room for guesses. If we look at the Nissan Leaf, which also uses air-cooled lithium ion batteries, Nissan ended up changing the battery packs to better protect the batteries from failure. Toyota may have likewise designed their battery packs for specific thermal properties, or maybe not. The only real way to know is to have access to Toyota engineers or to wait and see.

 

Agreed - except that TOYOTA have had Li-ION since 2012 with both the Prius v and Plug-In models.

 

I was thinking the same thing when considering buying my 2016 Prius.

But then I read about the 10 year hybrid battery warranty for California owners, and my concerns went away. I never keep a car more than 10 or 11 years, so I'm not going to worry about it.

But if I have the $2500(?) AC compressor fail after only three years, or have trouble with the transaxle, or inverter going bad after only a few years, I will sell this Prius. I'm not going to pour money into big expensive (out of warranty) repairs.

If the build quality, or the reliability turns out to be poor after only a few years, this Prius is history! I'm not going to spend my retirement dealing with car problems. I don't anticipate any major failures, but you never know. (I'm already angry about all these cracking windshield reports. And the two or three recalls.)

 

The worst cost of owning a car is depreciation. In 10years time it will cost about 75%-80% of the price paid.
Every car will have some maintenance costs and some probable repairs. Our hybrids don't have some components that ICE ingines have that wear out (belts, starter, alternator, turbo(?), clutch(?), gearbox), but have others that can eventually fail (less probable) at a higher cost.
So IMPOV, the difference in cost relies on the fuel consumption, and superior peace of mind. Even if my car was a lemon, I would never go back to a ICE-only.

 

In the US is was Plugin only. The US Prius v still has NiMH. Now most US Gen 4 trims & Prime have Li-ION.

 

Still, only windshield cracking issues are exceptional. If you've seen reliability ratings on other cars such as FCA (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, RAM, Fiat, Alfa, Maserati, there are too many brands to list) you will be impressed with the Prius. Many Fiats/Dodges have their 9-speed transmissions failing after less than a year. You'll end up wanting to dump your car when the warranty expires. After reading the maintenance section of the gen 2 forum, you get scared, but that's because they have over 150k miles.

 

Out of curiosity, why is that the only failure mode that interests you?

-Chap

 

In 10 years, maybe we will have flying cars. But then you will see parachutes coming down everyday....
Do you think people will drive (fly) any safer up in the sky???