There's a rumor going around discouraging the purchase of the Prius or other hybrid cars because the battery will need to be replaced every so often. And this will cost $3000-4000. Is this true???????
Holy Cow, I can't believe people still hear this and don't know. Ok, the battery is guarnteed a minimum of 8 years/100k miles. Toyota advertises that they expect it to last the life of the car. Many 1G Prii are beyond 200k miles without need to replace the battery. A few batteries have been found to be bad and 1 or 2 people have actually had to buy new ones. There is no reason to think you would every have to pay money to replace the battery in your Prius. And if you do, when the time comes, it may be expensive, but one could expect that hybrids will be so pervasive and battery technology so much more advanced and widespread that the price will be no more than what you'd pay to have an engine rebuilt or a transmission replaced or any other major expense in a 'normal' vehicle that's at 200k miles or more. IMO, this is a non-issue and is perpetuated by 'anti-hybrid' people to try to scare potential buyers.
Saw a thing in the Boston Globe this Sunday related to the battery, as well. A Toyota spokesman said that not only is the battery warrentied for 8 yr / 100,000 miles, but it is a non pro-rated warrenty. If the battery goes in that time period, you get a new battery. They have been tested in the lab to last at least 180,000 miles.
The battery guarantee in California is 150,000 miles. This is far superior to conventional automobiles and 12V batteries. I don't see people avoiding the purchase of a $30k SUV because they will have to replace the battery within six years. The rumor demonstrates a complete lack of critical thinking.
IMHO you are comparing apples to oranges here. A SUV battery is well under $100. The replacement cost of the Prius battery after the warranty can only be a SWAG.
A better example is the replacement cost of an SUV engine and transmission: $8-10,000 engine $3-7,000 transmission My coworker replaced the automatic transmission in his 2000 Camry at a cost of $5,000 20 years ago it cost me $500 just to have the engine 'dropped' out of my 911 to have $300 worth of repairs done; a rebuilt engine for it ran $12,000+ None of the conventional engines is covered much beyond 50,000 miles...
