What I will never miss by having a Gen III Prius

Fan belt? Radiator cooling fans have not been belt driven for many, many years. You must have been born before Sputnik 1 was launched.

And yes during the recent cold blast when daytime temps didn't pass 0° F, the ICE in my Prius roared to life without difficulty. And roar to life it did. It's surprisingly noisy when it's super frigid outside.

 

Check out some RWD cars/trucks. I'm not sure about brand new, but I know of some that are under 5 years old that don't have electric fans.

 

However, since you have a 2010, it is still possible for your 12 volt battery to die and leave you stranded. I just went thru that myself.

 

Guilty as charged. I drove lots of cars with fan belts and I tend still to call 'em fan belts even though I know that fans are electric these days.

But whatever they drive, the vee belts are still there; I still hear them squealing and they still break . . . . . . . . and like Bob, I am pleased not to have one.

Having read your second post Bob, I can remember the fuss when manufacturers stopped including a starting handle and much later, at the first vehicles without manual window winders.

 

My Cadillac had a voltage readout (BTW, I miss that as an OEM feature) which when the battery was healthy, would show 14.1 volts too. On the Cadillac forum, my question was answered that the 14.1 was a "system" output and not necessarily just the battery output. So it means the generator/alternator will produce that voltage for the car when charging occurs. When the 12 volt battery gets weaker, that voltage fluctuates and drops - sometimes to a readout as low as 10 volts. Then it's time to replace it.
Quote from bcae:

The electrical system in an automobile is said to be a 12 volt system, but this is somewhat misleading. The charging system in most cars will generally produce a voltage between 13.5 and 14.4 volts while the engine is running. It has to generate more voltage than the battery's rated voltage to overcome the internal resistance of the battery. This may seem strange, but the current needed to recharge the battery would not flow at all if the charging system's output voltage was the same as the battery voltage. A greater difference of potential (voltage) between the battery's voltage and the alternator's output voltage will provide a faster charging rate.​

As long as the engine is running, all of the power for the accessories is delivered by the alternator. The battery is actually a load on the charging system. The only time that the battery would supply power with the engine running is when the current capacity of the alternator is exceeded or when engine is at a very low idle.​

 

Fan belt?....some months ago I helped a friend who had issues with the coolant level of his 4 or 5 years old Toyota 4runner (maybe a Highlander, don't remember).
I authoritatively said "when the coolant is hot enough the electro fan is going to work". He: "it always works". Me: "no, that's in old cars, let me show you"

Well, the damned SUV has a belt driven fan!

Sent ?

 

The typical charging voltage for a Lead-acid battery is 14.4 volts. Your battery is being charged in the normal range.

 

It helps to have 206 volts for starting...

 

Yes, I confirm that's what it does. Now the question is... Why and what is the net result? Folks with a lot of dark-time driving should have more battery problems. I expect I use my lights less than 5% of the time.

 

Once you turn on the headlights, or simply wait in Park for a little while, the 12v battery is going to be discharging. Now its time for the charger to go on. The state of charge is high so to charge the battery 14.4 volts is reasonable. Cycling back and forth 13.6 - 14.4 -13.6... doesn't seem to be a good idea. So the "charging" voltage is set at 14.4 and most of the current goes to the headlights, etc. If you've ever run a charger with a current meter you know that the charging current gets quite small when the state of charge is high. Its not necessarily a good thing to be continuously charging even a small current when not needed. However, while there are various discussions about battery problems it doesn't seem that everyone is replacing their battery often.

 

I don't miss having to worry about a timing belt breaking. I don't miss replacing brake pads/rotors every couple years.