Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Hybrid Vehicles The Great Hybrid Battery Debate
669 messages, Last post on Apr 06, 2009 at 2:32 PM
You are in the Hybrid Vehicles Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
|
Replying to: gagrice (Jun 26, 2008 4:02 pm) 
|
|
|
Replying to: kwatts59 (Jun 29, 2008 2:21 pm) |
|
|
houdini1 says, "You are conveniently forgetting that at 8 years you have to replace the batteries in the Prius at a cost of $8,000. That adds up to $1,000 cost per year." This statement is very misleading to the uninitiated. Allow me to point out the problems with it so that not one person is confused by the reality: 1. If you live in a CARB state, the warranty is 10 yrs/150K miles. 2. No one in HISTORY has paid $8,000 for a Prius battery replacement. It has not and will not ever happen. The cost is far less than that, and it rarely if ever is paid ENTIRELY by the consumer. 3. There is no guarantee that a Prius owner will EVER have to replace a traction battery, and in particular there is no reason to believe that the ENTIRE battery system will fail and need replacement. Replacements such as that are VERY VERY rare. So rare, in fact, that it is difficult to even find a story about it happening that can withstand fact-checking and scrutiny. 4. I know of no one in a CARB state who has posted that the Prius battery failed outside of warranty. Not one instance of the current generation Prius having a battery replacement outside of warranty has been reported, as far as I can find. 5. The cost of replacing a Prius battery is no different than having to pay for replacing an engine in a similar car. And everyone knows that people pay for replaced engines SO OFTEN these days !!!!!! So - is there a RISK of the Prius having a problem after 8-12 years of ownership in which a battery replacement will have to be paid for by the owner of the car? Of course there is a risk of that. But it is not any more likely than a Malibu blowing an engine after 8-12 years. At least as far as ACTUAL CASES have gone. There are even very few cases of the original Prius (first sold in the USA almost exactly 8 years ago now) needing a replacement battery. Those stories can be found but are also VERY VERY rare. Prices for used Prius batteries—which come from junkyards and auto body shops—range from $450 to $1,700, says Famous Rhodes, director of eBay Motors parts and accessories. Similarly, Toyota's Prius battery is down to $3,000 from $5,500. The good news, though, is that the chances of needing to replace the battery in your hybrid is low, even after the warranty coverage is up. Honda says that less than 200 of its hybrid batteries have failed post-warranty, despite over 100,000 vehicles on the road. How about Toyota? Its post-warranty battery replacement rate sits at just 0.003 percent. Modern hybrid vehicles are designed to minimize the strain on their high-power batteries. Battery management systems have been programmed to only allow a certain amount of the battery's available charge to dissipate, which greatly extends the life of the unit. So, when considering a hybrid vehicle, perhaps the battery shouldn't be too much of a deterrent. And:
|
|
|
Replying to: larsb (Jul 07, 2008 1:00 pm) But in the limited circle to which he's responding it plays well, it doesn't matter whether it's true or not. "The Yanks are gonna take it all again this year", says one Bronx bar patron to the others... "Yeah you said it!" comes back the reply.
|
|
|
Replying to: kdhspyder (Jul 07, 2008 4:51 pm) 
|
|
|
Replying to: gagrice (Jul 07, 2008 6:58 pm) Both points are so are far from the realm of reality that the answer just doesn't matter. The occurances are so rare that when and if one does ever happen, just like your Sequoia, and a customer is put out of a vehicle by a warranty issue there is replacement transportation - of equal type - available at one of the TRAC outlets. |
|
|
|
|
Replying to: larsb (Jul 07, 2008 1:00 pm) Let me also add that a battery replacement costs would need to be averaged over the total life of the car, not just the first 10 years. However, a battery replacement cost should be applied to the future life of the car. An owner replacing batteries would see a cost for years 10 to 20 (assuming the batteries are replaced at year 10 and last to year 20). Battery replacement, as you pointed out, really isn't much of an issue as it turns out. The same folks that bring up the Prius batteries also conveniently ignore the lack of reliability from a certain manufacturer that happens to be introducing a new diesel car this year. I am definitely convinced that the battery issue is now a non-issue - the NiMH batteries anyway. Not sure about the Li-Ion batteries yet. The issue was probably the only issue that was really standing in the way of me buying a hybrid in the future.
|
|
|
Replying to: avalon02wh (Jul 08, 2008 3:26 am)
|
|
|
Replying to: gagrice (Jul 08, 2008 10:40 am) Go right on this site and look up any high volume passenger vehicle with 180,000 mi and/or 15 yrs on it. It's worth less than $500! Who cares if the battery goes out at 180K or 200K or 220K miles? The vehicle is worth nothing anyway. This objection that's constantly being raised over and over again is truely a tempest in a teapot. 93 Camry 150,000 mi = $455 94 Accord 180,000 mi = $250 95 Taurus 130,000 mi = $190
|
|
|
Replying to: gagrice (Jul 08, 2008 10:40 am) Well, it's not MAGIC Gary. There will without a doubt be "some battery deterioration" and that FACT is unavoidable. But how much it affects the mileage will be the key point. Most of the older, highest mileage Priuses which have been reported on show little or no loss in MPG as they age. After a battery has 8-10 years on it, the performance of the battery cannot help but be affected. I'm the one saying "Prius batteries will not FAIL EN MASSE" over time. There will be a few failures out of warranty, for sure. I think that number will still hover around minuscule to barely a blip.
|
|
You are here:
Forums
Hybrid Vehicles The Great Hybrid Battery Debate
New? Join Now!
Forum Tools
Search Forums
Browse by Vehicle
Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
Today's Chats
