Will I void the extended warranty?

Yes

 

sounds like a future pip owner!

 

The longevity of the NiMH battery requires the carefully controlled charging, conditioning and discharge programmed into the Prius's ECU.

Manually discharging and recharging the battery will definitely shorten it's life.

The old NiCad technology is more compliant to deep cycle use than NiMH batteries.

 

isn't the 5 yr bumper to bumper warranty going to run out shortly?

Usually it's 5yr/60k - whichever comes first - which is shortly - am I wrong about this?

 

Rude person's, the EV button comes as standard in the UK/EU Prius and also in Australia I believe.
This does not affect the charging or discharging parameters of the HV battery. The control for the EV is in the ECU in the US version. It is only the switch and wiring that is missing, and EV can only be used if conditions are correct, set by the ECU. If you try to use EV outside of these conditions a notice pops up on the MFD telling you this and the car does not go into EV mode.
Perhaps surprisingly there is also no evidence that the EV switch shortens the life of the battery. The batteries here lasting just as long as those in the US, but we have the switch.
It is very useful for moving the car short distances, maneuvering from driveway to garage without the warm up wasting fuel, or being quite late at night not waking the neighbors.
I do agree with Patrick that fitting a switch could void the guarantee but this would only relate to the battery and possibly MG's. It would be hard for Toyota to say an engine problem was due to using an EV switch.

John (Britprius)

 

i think grumpy might have something to say about u.s vs non u.s. batteries.

 

The difference is as Grumpy will say is between the gen2 and gen3.
It is difficult to believe there would be different production lines for the same battery one producing good the other poor batteries for different markets.
The guarantees "apart from CARB states" are the same both sides of the pond. Unfortunately Grumpy bought an early gen3 when the guarantee was only 60,000 miles "ran from 2009 till mid 2010" after this it was changed back to 100,000 miles.

John (Britprius)

 

Remove the button if you need to make a warranty claim?

 

I considered the EV button at one time, but chose an Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT) spoofer instead. It has all the cold weather and mileage benefits you seek without cycling the battery as much. To verify, research when EV is actually available for use in a Gen 2.

I'm consistently seeing a 4-5 MPG increase over non-ECT spoofing.

 

EV is available immediately the Prius is made ready from cold or hot providing the battery has three blue bars or more of charge, but once the warm up cycle has started it is not available. The car will only stay in EV up to 31 mph registered speed on the speedo for the UK/EU versions "this speed may be different on US versions". Above this speed it is not available. The actual road speed will depend on tyre size.
If the battery gets below 3 blue bars or acceleration requirements are to great the car drops out of EV.

John (Britprius)

 

Will it void the warranty?
Not necessarily.

Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Even if you install the EV button, or similar product, they have to prove that this alteration led to the failure that you're trying to get them to fix.
Yeah.
They probably have a good case for premature battery failure with this mod, but if you suck a valve or the CAT goes out....not so much.

I'm a little curious about the warranty though.
You drive an 08 which is six years old. I'm presuming that it's a CPO car, but you have to determine very carefully who is certifying this car, and who is providing the warranty.
Sadly.....
Buying the car from the mother ship doesn't always guarantee that you're getting a Factory Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) car with an OEM warranty.

Best of Luck!

 

The fuel savings probably wouldn't out weigh the extra cost of the batteries needing replaced sooner.

SPH-L710 ?

 

I have a 2013 isn't the warranty 3yr/36,000 bumper to bumper?

SPH-L710 ?

 

Bullstuff .... it comes as standard equipment in other countries.

Your hybrid battery warranty is up with Toyota but you have an extended warranty.

I'd go ahead and install the EV switch and then if anything happens, just un-install it before making a warranty claim with your aftermarket warranty company, which btw, from what Ive read dont cover the hybrid battery anyways....

 

in the us you have the 10 years warranty in some states thats the most of al over the world
maybe that wy they did not put the EV button ( then ofcourse they did it in all states ) just to have that extra on battery life.

 

NinnJinn, block the grill before installing the EV button as that will keep whatever heat you do have in the engine compartment longer.

EV button or no, the ICE is still going to spin up to heat itself & the cat. Running on battery is great fun and a way to goose the numbers. I did it every morning on my to work with my tour through the parking lot.

However, the EV button doesn't create electricity. Those EV miles are going to discharge the traction battery causing the ICE to spin up sooner rather than later. With enough practice you can do this yourself. The only way I can see that you could really be ahead is if you are using the traction battery exclusively in town to the point where the ICE is going to spin up just to charge the battery and it has to spin up to power the car anyway.

If your intent is to bypass the startup cycle then for quick errands (5 minutes or less) just park & lock the car, don't power down.

My 2010 has an EV button. I have never been able to get that to do anything for me that I couldn't do myself.

I will defer to those with more practical experience with the EV button.

 

JimN, your line, "My 2010 has an EV button. I have never been able to get that to do anything for me that I couldn't do myself." I find somewhat misleading. With the EV button you can eliminate the warm up cycle for a short journey or maneuver. This is impossible without the EV button, and vary desirable in the gen3 with it's rough start problem.

Under certain circumstances it can be extremely useful. For instance I live near the top of a hill, and I can visit a friend that lives about a mile away without using fuel.
With a charge of 4 blue bars I can enter EV without the ICE starting rolling down to my friends house regening all the way arriving with up to a full house of green bars. The return journey can be made in EV arriving back home, "admittedly with a lower state of charge than when I left" but without using any fuel, and avoiding two warm up cycles.
On leaving home the next time "in EV" will charge the battery to a reasonable level before I enter the warm up cycle at the bottom of the hill on a flat road.
I agree this is a very specific set of circumstances, but there must be others that would be impossible without an EV switch.
The EV switch can also save fuel when you know at a given point in your journey you are going to descend a long hill. By going into EV before getting to the hill you can travel for perhaps "depending on terrain" 2 miles depleting the charge on the battery but using no fuel. On descending the hill the battery will charged again without using fuel taking maximum advantage of the energy recouped descending the hill. This energy would have been wasted if the battery was near full at the top of the hill.
Intelligent use of EV can save fuel.

John (Britprius)