Is Hybrid Battery the Culprit to my Poor MPGs?

A USED battery is just that, USED. More than likely, they are using the Prolong system to
"recondition" the battery pack. NO ONE knows how long it will last. When will it die on YOU????
How many times will it die? It's almost a certain bet it will die at the worst time.

Do they pay for towing back to your place? Or one or there station? How long do you have to wait
before they get to you to give you another USED battery? A day? A week? 2 weeks????

If you are going to spend $1650 for a USED battery, why not spend $1600 for a NEW battery pack?
You will certainly be able to just drive the car and not worry about it dying on you, at the worst possible time.

The Prolong system is less than half the cost of a USED battery, and new battery, but it does have a proven
record of saving and lengthening the life of the current USED battery in the persons car.
Yes, doing the initial charge/discharge routine will take 2 or 3 days, but then it's done. And then just a
touch up twice a year. Which won't take as long and could be done when it is easy for you on a day off.

According to the app you used, your battery is just weak, but all the cells are evenly weak. So the Prolong
likely will "recondition" your battery to almost new condition.

But, it is your car, and your money.... spend it as you see fit.
From what I've read on Prius Chat, either the prolong system or a new battery is the BEST and most cost
efficient way to go. It all depends on your finances...

 

Just wondering, is that calculated or displayed? Also, how would you describe your driving style, do you work at mpg, or just drive it?

Either way, that is pretty low, especially with 15" Defenders.

 

How hard was it doing that Dr. Prius life expectancy test? I've got the app, but so far just did the static hook up. Oh, maybe you can post that too. Here's what I'm getting recently:

 

"If you know where to get a brand new battery for $1600, I'm all ears..."

Try this: New Prius Battery Kit (GEN3, 2010-2015) - New Prius Batteries LLC
Pretty well vetted on this forum.

 

Too, with the above, there's no "core charge"; you get to keep the old cells.

 

I don't know what a "rando" battery is...
If you get a USED battery from a junk yard, they'll have the mileage of the car they took it out of.
greenie probably buys these batteries and "recondition's" them. Do they tell you how many miles
are on their batteries? No one has reported that they do. What life expectancy does greenie give you?

If you are just looking to NOT do the work, then get a used battery that someone will install.
I have seen places that sell assembled Prius battery packs, with NEW cells, installed in the car.
I don't know the prices are because it's been a while since I looked but they were $2500 and up.
newpriusbatteries sells the cells for $1600, with new bus bars and accessories. But you install them.
For me to NOT spend $1000 to install them myself, is well worth it.
If money is no object, it won't matter. If your time isn't an object, it won't matter.

 

Your pack voltage is at 217, and the state of charge is at 56%, so does that mean the pack voltage will be at
400+/- volts when the state of charge is at 100%????
Doesn't seem accurate to me.... But what do I know?

 

I'm not sure how that works, suspect that display is fairly typical. Maybe also, Dr Prius is reading actual percent charged, ie: fully charged would be 80%?

The main thing I'm looking at is not a big difference between the bars, and/or one super low compared to the rest.

 

217 would be about 90%...
I guess it depends on what the app considers 100%. Does it mean when the cells are at there FULL
charge? Or at the 80% charge, where the Prius likes to keep it.

 

With Green Bean you most likely will need one or more replacements (after the first one) because they use used cells. That can be OK if you can handle having your vehicle stop working periodically. Also, you are required to document each failure. From their web site: "You must have the trouble codes read & provide us a copy. We do not pay for diagnostics, towing, or any other fee incident to a battery failure"

If you plan to go 100,000 more miles and want proven reliability over that time, it might be worth it to bite the bullet and spend $2500+ on a genuine new Toyota battery.

 

The only further argument I'd make for the $900 junkyard battery is that you aren't spending anything further to ship it, because you are probably picking it up within 25 miles.

This also means that returning it or exchanging it only involves that same short trip. This may or may not be true for other battery suppliers.

That said, now that I know you want to haul it out to 2025 or past? I would withdraw the junkyard battery suggestion and encourage you to read up on that newpriusbatteries deal. You're looking for a long haul, not a patch-up. Get the good stuff.

 

Oh, "randoM".....
Here, they give you the mileage also.... is it correct????? Only they know for sure.
You just don't want to realize that the greenie battery... is.... U S E D !!!!!! Recondition is just a fancy
work that redirects YOU into believing they do something special to make a U S E D battery new.

Toyota only give a 1 year warranty(I could be mistaken) for there new(?) battery assembly.
And if they are actually NEW, then that would be the best things. Since most of the original batteries
have lasted almost 10 years.

Craftsman's tools from sears, who are going out of business and sold their tools to ace hardware and home depot,
offer a lifetime warranty. So WHEN they brake... they will, with a hassle, replace them, over and over again.
And how much time to you waste, gas, lost work, replacing those tool? Yea, they are "cheaper", and not only in price.
But you'll pay more with time and lost wages because your tool broke!

With the Prolong set up, YOU decide when you want to do the 6-9 months service on the battery.
With the greenie battery, IT decides WHEN you will get stuck.

Seems to be you just want a cheap and easy way to find fake peace of mind.
You haven't really listened to what other's are telling you about the batteries....
I think we all believe you've already made up your mind.

Good Luck.

 

It may depend on where you live. My range dropped 100 miles after I moved from Atlanta to Chicago. I believe they max out the ethanol in the gas here. In GA, the gasoline has no where near 10%.
It also depends how much time you sit with the car on, as the engine cycles on and off, due to AC, and or heater your mpg and range drops.
I have got up to 600+ mile range, but then ran out of gas in my neighborhood. LOL.
The best MPG that I have averaged was 60 mpg on a north GA mountain road trip with 4 kids in the car.

 

Not a fan of ethanol here, but last tank for me was 66 MPG for 650 miles. So far the last 3,800 miles yielded 65 MPG, including A/C see below.