Battery life

I'd like this information as well.

 

Most here will tell you that regardless the driving style, the on-board computers will take care of the abttery, no worries.

 

and i don't recall any scientific studies, but most evidence points to hotter climates being more of a problem than anything else. if anything, i would think faster discharging of the battery would reduce longevity. but with the standard prius, you can't really control that no matter how you drive unless you use the ev switch a lot which isn't recommended.

 

There have been reports that the gen3/2010 HV battery might not be quite as robust as the gen2, which was capable for running up to 400,000+ miles. The negative reports are from taxi drivers in Greece who have had premature HV battery failure at about 90,000 miles under extreme use conditions. Apparantly they are sticking to the gen2 Prius as it is hardier.

I used my gen3/2010 Prius as a cab upto about 64,000 miles which no HV issues, though I am beginning to see some fluctuations and faster cycling of the HV battery in certain conditions. No warning lights have come on though and my fuel economy is still as good as it always was. I guess there's some wear showing but nothing of significance - yet.

I recon you should get over 100,000 miles with ease even if you use the car as a cab, unless you use it in very hot conditions. Avoid making significant use of the EV mode and just driving the car normally. Taxi use really hammers the HV battery, so if you're just driving normally, you should get a good long life out of your car.

 

I live in a hot place and don't have the benefit of extended CARB state warranty. Thus, I'm conscientious of the battery wear and tear. My understanding is that heat kills batteries as well as number and depth of discharge cycles.
Thus, I drive in a way that minimizes battery use, cycling and heating. Surprising, such use gives me the best MPG.

Specifically, I use the car as if it had on-off gas switch only. I briskly accelerate at the top of ECO (and beyond if needed, so I would not block traffic) and then coast with no energy use to the next stop light of stop sign. I avoid low speed driving pulling current from battery while ICE is off. This way there is little battery use or cycling. I rarely hear the battery fan going, even though I tend to drive with all windows open and no AC. This is obviously low speed city driving (I average 23MPH and 55MPG).

At the same time, there is a way to drive in such a way that battery overheats and suffers. I experienced that once when my wife took the car for a trip and parked in sun later. When I started that it an hr later, the fan battery went full blast and ICE was on all the time with poor mileage, clearly bypassing battery use for the next hr or so. I suspect her driving style with unnecessarily heavy acceleration and then heavy braking put a lot of strain on the battery (both discharging and charging) and overheated it. The fact that turning Prius off kills battery cooling didn't help either.

 

The only thing I can think of to help the car's battery a bit, is to drive it regularly. Don't let it sit a week or more without going somewhere.

Other than that, the car knows far better than any of us how to take care of it's batteries.