Prius C owner. Bought the car new in December 2013. Since 2020, I only get about 5,000 miles per year on the car. It has about 130,000 miles on it. I have noticed for the past 3-6 months the hybrid battery slightly depletes faster than it used to and also charges slightly faster than it used to even sometimes in the city reaching max battery which had never happened in 10 years (only going down mountains). A couple weeks ago it would have trouble starting and show lots of warning lights on the display. Now it has sat for 1 week while I was on a trip and it will not turn the engine on, showed warning light and then only the check engine light. I had it jump started and it ran. I drove around the block. About 8 hours later same warning light issue and will not start. Wondering if this is the 12V battery or the hybrid battery? And where is the best place to get new batteries? How much do these batteries cost? thanks
This is not an actual diagnosis, but it sure sounds like the hybrid battery is aged out, and that would be more or less on schedule for a 2013. You may also be having troubles with the 12v battery- the car probably ought to be on its 3rd by now. Toyota is by far the best supplier for the hybrid battery, though you may save some money by having someone other than Toyota install it for you. Last time I checked they were around $2k for the part. The 12v battery is much cheaper and more generic, though Toyota often has the best grade stock available.
It's definitely time to replace the 12v battery. I am not familiar with the Prius c, but you should be able to find a replacement battery at an auto parts store, Toyota dealership, Walmart, Costco, etc.
The early version Prius c uses the S34B20R battery which you can get at many of the usual suspects. The late (2018-2019) model needs the newer H3 battery and that has been harder to find as of this writing.
GreenTech batteries did a free diagnostic this morning and found nothing. But they said when the 12V dies the codes are erased. I did jump it this morning to drive 22 min to GreenTech. Then drove back to AutoZone, bought a 12V for about $250. Just need to install it. Anyone have a good video or instructions on this?
So now you're back to having a healthy 12v battery, which should go a long way to contain the chaos. Now if you are also having problems with the hybrid battery it should be a lot easier to gauge severity.
