I wonder if this means that Toyota renegotiated the wholesale of the materials that they use to make the batteries? Something happened. Interesting.

thats really good news for all those tolls citing the replacement cost/ rates

$1850 for a discount price for a battery is pretty good. That will bring the used battery prices down even lower(maybe $500). That is really insignificant when you consider that the Prius will never need an alternator, brake jobs, etc.

When was the last time any manufacturer lowered the engine or transmission replacement cost?

Camry automatic transaxle costs $2,357.55 (discounted price), making it $800 more expensive.

HV battery pack is maintenance free so there is no need to change liquid and has 8-10 years / 100,000-150,000 miles warranty. Much longer than engine or transmission warranty. Why are people still concern about the HV battery replacement?

In every event or presentation that I have been a part of, there is always at least one question about battery life. This is a great article for me to have on hand for people who ask the question.

I think people ask about it since it is different than what they have in their current car.

Considering that $1,863.84 figure is from before the price mark down if I recall correctly, I wonder if they will be knocking some off soon? Keep in mind that Bob Bridge Toyota is still making a profit off that...so the retail list is probably twice dealer cost.

What happened is what every old time manufacturing expert knows....product costs continually, steadily go down with time. (I could babble more on this, but I will restrain myself.) This is true for everyone in the entire supply chain as well as Toyota/Panasonic. This change has been happening for some time, so do not read into the above change a dramatic recent shift.

What does happen is that price does have significant jumps down. Companies keep the price steady until it the price/cost mismatch starts to adversely affect the overall car sales picture. Think of what happens to Prius sales now and in the future if they charge $3000 for a $900 battery. It comes back to haunt them if they keep it up for too long. (e.g. Honda coming out with a much less expensive hybrid? A third party supplier takes away most of the Toyota battery resale business, etc.)

It is interesting to see that the Classic battery containing 38 modules, now costs less than the 2G battery containing 28 modules. Hence it appears that the price was set based upon market conditions, not a fixed % markup over product cost.

Patrick,

That was my first thought too. Will they use the same cells in the Classic pack? If they do, it will be a better deal with some DIY work.