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Average 2002 Prius battery life?

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by hoss_ster, Sep 5, 2011.

  1. hoss_ster

    hoss_ster New Member

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    2002 Prius
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    I
    I am trying to sell my 2002 Prius. It has 101,355 miles and I haven't had any issues with the battery (the original hybrid battery is still in the car). I am trying to get ~ $5500 - $6000 for it.

    I am getting alot of questions from prospective buyers regarding the battery ... is it original or replacement, etc?

    The original hybrid battery seems to be scaring people off. They are assuming they'll have to replace it soon. I do see many 2002 Prius listed on Craigslist with replaced batteries.

    Any suggestions as to what I should tell people?

    - Anyone have any data on the average or median life of a 2002 Prius battery?
    - Would there be an point asking a Toyota service department to check the battery and give me some document describing its condition?

    What do you all think?

    PS: I love the car, but I got a Nissan Leaf recently.
     
  2. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    This is a reasonable assumption on the part of your prospective buyers. The car is 9-10 years old and the traction battery is near end-of-life. Who wants to be on the hook to spend $3K on repairs on a car whose market value at best is $6K.

    Your dealer's service dept can provide you with a readout of the battery module voltages. However, this says nothing about whether the battery might die tomorrow, or not.
     
  3. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    Offer to pay for a pre-purchase inspection at Art's Automotive or Luscious Garage. Both offer a hybrid battery load test, as far as I know.
     
  4. bobofky

    bobofky Member

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    Based on my experience with 2 2001 Priuses, main battery life is about 8 years, or the warranty period for Gen II and Gen III.
     
  5. elendilmir

    elendilmir Member

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    FWIW, I have 137K on my original battery. No problems with the battery, although I know its days are numbered. Planning on having a remanufactured battery put in it and driving it to 250K.
     
  6. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    I would simply tell them that that is a risk they have to be willing to take. I would also direct them to this website (PriusChat) where there are mumerous experts on battery repair/replacement and let them decide from there. Batteries are finiky. One will last 12 years while another will last 6. There's no way of telling whether or not your battery will die tomorrow and there hasn't been the whole time you've owned it. That's a chance we all have to take. The reward is driving by the gas station 3 out of every 4 weeks.
     
  7. wwu123

    wwu123 Junior Member

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    Second that, LG did a load test for about $100. Trouble is, it will probably show the battery is slowly dying, but can't predict when it will ultimately fail.

    Mine felt like it generally worked fine, but I did replace it a year later for peace of mind.
     
  8. 3prongpaul

    3prongpaul Hybrid Shop Owner, worked on 100's of Prius's

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    You can tell prospective buyers IF the battery were to die there are good rebuilt batteries available for around $1400-$1600. On the plus side, the Prius engine has no timing belt, so they won't have a $900 timing belt replacement like they would on many used cars at that mileage....and the other standard Prius benefits like the brake pads last much longer because of regen braking and getting 45mpg all the time.
     
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  9. Rebound

    Rebound Senior Member

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    I'd get a written estimate for battery replacement to show prospective buyers. Or maybe you can just use the figures that Luscious Garage puts on their website. Then they'll factor that into what they'll pay you.
     
  10. RW5207

    RW5207 Junior Member

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    Having just replaced my 2002 Prius traction battery @ 112K miles, I can attest to the fact that it's more a matter of time and temperature than sheer mileage. I'm in Texas and it gets hot! I can only assume that I did pretty good getting > 9 years out of the battery (we are friends with the original owners). I replaced it myself with a Re-Involt remanufactured battery.

    If I was going to purchase your Prius, I'd assume I was going to shell out $2K for the battery and give you no more than 5K for it.
     
  11. jtuchol

    jtuchol Member

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    I am a newbie to the site so take what I say well..... I can just say that I do lots of reading on this site and come to the conclusion that it's hard to say but I read some of the folks that write here and it seams like HEAT and LACK OF USE are a big enemy of these early prius's. I am on my third one ( had a 06, 08 and now a 2002 ) my 02 has 151 on the speedo and still running on the original battery. I bought the car from a salvage dealer for a couple of grand with minor damage to the front, ran and drove on the trailer and sat at home for a couple of mont's until I had the money to fix it. I did go out once a week and start the car and let it charge up until it shut off on it's own. so with all of that said it's a pretty good car. the only thing that is disapointing is the gas milage is not the best it strugles to get 40mpg when I got the car it said the avg mpg was about 38 mpg. and last but least the car came from the state of Iwoa ( did I spell that right?) so take this how you may.
     
  12. RW5207

    RW5207 Junior Member

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    jutuchol--

    My 2002 Prius will get 41 or so as long as it runs for > 15 minutes at a time. The first 10 minutes seem to be it's "warm up period" and it doesn't get into stride until after that. My wife's 2005 Prius will get about 5 mpg more than the 2002, at any given point in time.

    Russ