Toyota warranties their traction Prius batteries for 100K. What is the actual experience with how long the 2016 Prius IV battery lasts and how much does a replacement battery cost and can you replace the battery DIY. The bottom line is can I buy a 2016 Prius IV with 76K miles and expect to have the battery last up to and beyond 200K miles ? Thank you in advance. Ron In Midland, MI
Best answer is no. Based on previous battery’s it should but there are no guarantees. You pay your money and you take your chances. The choice is yours. As for the other stuff do some homework on your own go to a Toyota website and see what a battery currently costs
Thanks Skibob, I understand "pay your money and you take your chances" and will dig up the cost of replacement batteries.
welcome! agree with ski^^^ up through gen 3 (through 2016). we don't have enough data on gen 4 yet (2016 through now). i'm not even sure how much pricing info we have on the gen 4 battery. call around to some dealers, ask for best price, and will they sell it to you. some will, some won't. again, replacement up to gen 3 is as low as $1,600. and you can do it if you're reasonably handy. hopefully, gen 4 won't be any any more expensive or difficult
=================================================================================================== Thanks Bisco, There is a Toyota Dealer in Olathe Kansas who sells OEM Toyota parts on line. Have ordered from them, they are reputable and honest with a good return policy. I am "reasonably handy", I own a 1974 Norton Commando. Owning a Norton is like owning a vintage Jaguar, you do it because you love them, certainly not for their not so wonderful early Brit engineering.
No Problema, I'm too long in the tooth to ride my Norton as a unicycle like I see kids on their crotch rockets. I survived my youth but unfortunately many of them may not. Additionally they give all of us who ride reasonably a bad undeserved rap.
Try to think of the battery's life in terms of years, not miles. If it's a 2016, I would expect it to last until 2026, although this is far from an exact science. There are 76k miles already, which is a good thing because the hybrid batteries like to be used. Inactivity and desert heat seem to be the enemies of battery life. You are in MI and probably don't have to worry about extreme heat. Olathe has very low prices on replacement batteries but you'll probably have to pick it up in person.
The correct answer is actually that no one really knows yet what to expect for lifespan on the L-ion batteries. The first ones in Prii were in the 2012 Plug-in. Almost all of them are still doing fine. Having lived in northern Ohio and in Iowa, I'd be more concerned about road salt rotting out the body before the battery dying. Since the CARB state warranty is 150,000 miles, one would expect the majority to make it that long or Toyota would be losing money replacing them. The average may turn out to be closer to 200 than to 150k miles. But that's just a guess based on the apparent expectations of Toyota.
==================================================================================================== Thanks MelonPrius for the detail. Correct, in Michigan no worries about desert heat.
Yeah, my take exactly. If you live on the rust belt, unless you are long distance carrier or taxi driver, with the ordinary use of ~15kmiles/year, the car is rusted out and done way before battery or engine gives up. If you are lucky and don't have rust problem and get your Prius to 200k miles, you have a choice of replacing the battery if it fails. That's of course if the car is worth the cost at that point. The battery replacement price has come down substantially in recent years, it is just like any other older ICE car that would need a major engine or transmission repair at high mileage. I for one would not worry too much about the longevity of my PRIUS. I expect it to be fine up to 10 years 150k miles. After that, anything can go wrong but mainly doomed due to rust related problems no matter what car I have or how good I take care of it.
