hybrid battery life on 2010-2012 prius?

I am at 163,000 miles and still on the factory battery.

 

188k miles on our 2010 and going strong .

Some questions:

1. What is your budget?
2. How long will 30k miles take to pile on for you?
3. Are you the DIY type or depend on mechanics for repairs?
4. What mileage range are you considering?

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

unfortunately no, there is no particular mileage or age when a battery goes bad.

if you only plan to keep it for a year or so and 30,000 miles, get a 2012 with 100,000 miles or so and you should be fine.
unless the head gasket blows

 

where do you live? some staes have better hybrid warranties than others

 

Find yourself a low mileage 03-08 Corolla, and you will be much further ahead from a cost per mile standpoint.

 

$800 and $1200 replacement costs for hybrid batteries means used. So you put in a used item and the gamble didn't pay off.

If you're doing these short trips pretty much all newer cars are going to hate you. They aren't made for that. When you start them up, they burn differently to get warm more quickly and reduce emissions. But if it takes your whole drive to warm up, then it doesn't work so great.

I'd definitely go for a Prius. Being in CA you're good for 150K miles and 10 years for a battery. If you're driving say 100 miles a day on average (120mi/day when busy, maybe 100mi on average?) and you're going to sell it after 30K miles, then that gives you 300 days or 10 months. So if you buy a Gen-3 (2010-2015) with less than 120K miles, you're golden. Any failure in your parameters is covered replacement for free.

I used my 2001 civic (7th gen vs. your 6th gen) for delivery driving for about 4 years. That's rated at 32/39 mpg. Driving like a "normal person" I would get about 35mpg. And that was driving like a bat out of hell. Driving it for delivery I was lucky to get 25mpg. Usually about 20mpg. I originally got my first Prius because of efficiency for deliveries. I got 42mpg to 48mpg on the delivery runs. The key is never turn it off. Keep it READY but then it only warms up the once. Keeps the inside hot or cold for the outside air as well. If you did turn it off, I would turn it on as soon as I sat in the car, then put on the seatbelt, look at my next address, and by then the coolant had pumped back in and the engine shut off because it was hot enough. If you turned it on and just went it would stay in early warmup stages until the next full and complete stop.

 

If your problem is solved by >30MPG and you have a strong demand for reliability and low repair cost, skip the hybrid. They're nice, and you probably could save some more gas but the extra complications can pack expensive surprises.

You aren't talking about much extra fuel burnt and you're buying a lot of peace-of-mind with it.

 

The CARB warranty from California is great for peace of mind. But, is the OP from California?

 

2010 here with very low mileage (77K kms), build date August 2009, sat at the dealership for 15 months before we bought it "new": The hybrid battery has been champion so far, no apparent decline.

 

I have 215,000 on my 2010 and it still has the factory battery. It's mostly highway mileage though.

 

@2k1Toaster make great points. You'll do great with a Gen three. He mentioned:

The 2010 and newer don't use the coolant "thermos bottle." They run coolant through the catalytic converter and that warms the engine in a big hurry. It takes me about three minutes on an engine as "cold" as it get in FL to see the mpg bars get up over 50. Way quicker than my wife's 2006. And if you're just stopping for a few minutes to make a delivery and then heading to the next one, it won't cool off enough to worry about. You should stay at very efficient temperatures all day under those conditions unless it's bitter cold and you stop too long. That's why there are so many Prius taxis.

2012 has some nice enhancements over the earlier gen 3 Prii, so that would be nice. And your battery would only be7 years old, so still under warranty for at lease a year. Three years if you're in a CARB state. Depending on if you have exceeded 100,000 or 150,000 miles respectively. So, if they warrant the battery for 10/150, it's reasonable to expect it to last at least that long. But nothing is certain.

 

I would guess 1/2 the batteries on Gen 1 (2001 - 2003) are dead by now. Those batteries were the first Toyota ever designed.
Major improvements were made for Gen 2. (2004 - 2009) and my guess is that 1/5 of the Gen 2 batteries are dead by now.
Minor improvements were made for Gen 3 (2010 - 2015) and I do not think any real fraction have failed yet.

 

I know this is a bit off topic, but gen 4 has either lithium or Ni-MH available. Do we know if one vs another had advantage on longevity time wise? Obviously I'm aware about energy density differences etc.

 

We have 20 years of history on NiMH, and about 6 on lithium. That does not mean they do not last as long, we just do not know.

 

My sister has 250k on her 2010 battery. The engine didn't make it to 200,000 unfortunately :\ beside the engine.. Great car!

 

2010, 132,000 miles, no problems.

 

2010, 151k miles, zero hybrid battery issues.

 

2011 w/ 192K & 2012 w/ 126K. No issues on both.

 

Hi there from Canada,

I have 428,000 KM or about 265K miles on my 2012 still on original battery. I think you will be fine for a long time .

Charlie