Battery after 100,000 miles myth?

You're unlikely to find a 2010 with over 100,000 miles on it....

For the GenII look here:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/29373-100-000-mile-club.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/57091-200-000-mile-club.html

 

I see you are in the US. The battery is warranted for 100,000 mi or longer (not sure about Texas). The battery is very similar (same modules) as the GII, with better cooling, so it should last longer than the GII Prius battery. There are GII taxis with more than 300,000 km on them, still using original battery.

Search on this site for the 100,000 mi club. It's on the main forum page near the top. There are -lots- of owners now way over 100,000 mi. There are very few owners who have had to have the traction battery replaced, but anything can fail.
Traction battery cost has fallen a bit, now in the $3000 range.
And I repeat, the GII Prius (2004 to 2009) battery life is what we have to talk about. GIII is still too new for many to have that many miles on them.

 

To add to what David said, a used battery in great condition may cost between $600-$1500. It's kinda like blowing an engine in a Chevy truck. You can pay the dealership $6,000 for a new one or you can do some research and have it rebuilt or replaced for $2,000.

 

The hybrid battery-replacement issue stems more from the original Honda Insight than the Prius. Honda, in attempting to go for the huge mpg numbers, configured the original Insight to rely significantly more on the battery than the Prius.

While they got the mpg numbers, they also got shortened battery life in the bargain. Battery replacement in an original Honda Insight with high mileage is not an uncommon occurance.

Toyota, OTOH, sacrificed some fuel economy to lengthen battery life. That's why Toyota's hybrid batteries last longer.

 

I have heard it said .... the secret to Toyota's success with the Prius, is energy management. I now have 18,000 miles on my G3, and I have absolutely no concerns about any of the major components of the system. You will read post on PC where someone is concerned about this or that ... a recent one was the cooling fan on the battery. Just leave it alone ... it will do what is necessary. The same for the battery, over and under charging .... just give it no concern. It truly is a wonderful example of engineering.

 

Toyota has produced over 2 million hybrids. Less than four hundred battery packs have been replaced. Most of those packs that were replaced were due to damage incurred to the pack caused by an accident.

 

I have heard the same thing. We will see how the Ford Fusion Hybrid's battery holds up. Ford apparently is pushing the battery quite a bit to get 47 mph limit...MotorTrend noted that this could result in shortened battery lifespan.

 

Batteries are guaranteed for 150k mi in California. A taxi fleet in Vancouver BC has put on more than 400k mi on the original batteries and is still going strong.

 

HV battery pack proved to be the most reliable part in Prius. It is maintenance free and it is covered by the longest warranty. You have nothing to worry about.

I have 130k miles and the HV pack is still going strong.

 

Where and how in the world could you possibly get these figures???

Not to say the batteries don't last and last and last - but I keep seeing people posting these 'facts' about battery longevity - where does it come from (Toyota Marketing?)?

Bottom line - it's impossible to get any kind of accurate numbers - to say "most of these were replaced by accident" - how many, what s your source.

There is no way even Toyota will come out with "we replaced xx brake master cylinders - or yy batteries.

A year ago people were saying not a single battery has been replaced (???). We should be a bit more real and keep to statements like the battery lasts a long time, and is warrantied to xx miles.

To state a car that has been in production since 1997 has had only 400 batteries replaced seems silly...

 

I'm the owner of a 2005 prius and right at 195k. I've owned it since it was new. Only repairs so far are brake actuator, water pump, new spark plugs, new front brakes, new radiator fluid, new psd fluid (2x).

 

The 2010 Prius uses the redesigned modules that showed up in the 2004 Prius. They significantly improved over the NHW11 version:


As for the NHW11 modules, there were infantile problems that included a leaky terminal seal which the field repair was kinda kludgy. Regardless, those who understand "heat is the enemy" are getting a lot of use out of the older traction batteries:

Here an older, NHW11 traction battery was replaced after 250,000 miles in a 2001 Prius. The new battery uses NHW20 model modules and it is unlikely to be replaced before 'the wheels fall off.'

Bob Wilson

 

In california, the battery is warrantied to 150k miles.

My dad has a 2004 prius with 140k miles. He still gets 50+ mpg.

 

As for how many have been replaced in the GII, in 2006 (as I recall) a Toyota manager said to a news conference that to that date 11 total had been supplied. I -think- she said 5 or 6 were warranty, the rest were purchased. So that's between 2004 and 2006. Someone can post how many Prius (GII) were sold up to winter 2006, I don't have those figures, though I think they are posted around here somewhere. It's in the few hundred thousand range.

 

The speed is limited by the maximum design RPM of MG1. Ford just designed for higher RPM. The most battery stress is during acceleration and stopping, not cruising. Many of the Prius HVB failures were apparently just corrosion around terminals in early models. All the hybrids carefully control the charging and discharging rates and state of charge. Ford stops and starts the ICE more often than Toyota. We'll see if that has any effect.

 

What's the max RPM for Ford MG1?

 

Toyota says its out-of-warranty battery replacement rate is 0.003 percent on the second generation Prius that debuted in the 2004 model year. That equals about one out of 40,000 Priuses sold, says Toyota spokesman John Hanson. That's a vast improvement over the first generation Prius, which had about 1 percent of the batteries fail after the warranty expired. Hanson says today's Prius batteries are designed to last "the life of the car," which Toyota defines as 180,000 miles.

Source: Newsweek 2008 article Hybrids: The High Cost of Low Batteries - Newsweek

 

I don't know offhand. The important factor is that at the maximum EV road speed, MG1 is turning at it's maximum RPM with the ICE at 0 RPM. It's a design factor. Neither Ford's or Toyota's is "Better". These are extremely sophisticated state of the art Motor/Generators. Special machines were adapted to wind the wire coils in them for improved efficiency. Special metals were developed to wind the coils on. The permanent magnets are some of the most powerful in the world. Google "The Prius That Shook the World". It's a terrific read. The ideas behind the HSD, gas engines, electric cars and CVTs are a hundred years old but Toyota married them together with software controlled solid state electronics. The Ford systems use the identical theories but are engineered differently for a larger, heavier car.

 

I wish all these people wasting $1,000 to $3,000 on an extended warranty that lasts 100,000 miles would read posts like this.

They are tossing their cash in the trash. I read about so many new buyers wasting their money. I tell them to ask 1st gen and 2nd gen people for reliability stats. They would rather trust the scum bag dealers for info. The ones trying to sell them something they do not need.