So I have had a 2006, 2011, and am currently sporting a 2013 Prius. My question is, I am looking At a 2001 Prius, that has only 72k miles on it. It has no error codes showing. I called the dealership and records indicate nothing but regular maintenance and a 12v battery replacement. How long should one of the 1’st gen hybrid packs last? Is it more decided by charge cycles or do these batteries generally go bad after such and such period of time?
Short answer: 8-10 years, 100,000-150,000 miles. Reference: A Jonathon Klein article in "The Drive" that got the answer from Toyota. Typical, Toyota designed the battery to last just long enough to outlive it's warranty. Be careful when buying older cars. Don't get one that flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many people didn't report their flooded cars. They just sold their cars and got rid of them. Car dealers redistributed them all over the country. If you've owned two Prii before, you are not a newbie. I bought my first used Prius around 2008. I got a 2006 with around 30K miles on it. I got the Carfax. It went new from the Toyota dealership to one local private owner. Then it went to the used car dealership that I bought it from. The battery lasted me the typical time, about 110,000k miles. I could not get it covered under warranty since I was not the original owner. I did not get a new battery from Toyota. I am not filthy rich. I had the battery tested and reconditioned for 1/3 the price. An example of such a shop: Walko Automotive, they used to be part of a hybrid chain called The Hybrid Shop of Virginia. There should be many hybrid battery shops around now. They tested every cell in the battery. They told me two were dead and needed replacing. The rest had enough life to be reconditioned. Depending on how many cells are dead or dying, will let you know if reconditioning is a good option compared to new. Reconditioning was a good option for me. They replaced the dead ones. They drained all the cells and recharged them, evenly and slowly, to make them efficient again. It worked great afterwards. The shop gave me a one year warranty. I drove the car until it was over 200,000 miles. The next time in failed, I decided the life of the car was over.
they can last 'forever'. that would be an anomaly though. if it is really a 20 year old oem battery, you may have found the unicorn. all you can do is plan for repairs, many repairs, and hope for the best.
I agree that you should be cautious about a GEN 1 with the original hybrid battery and should anticipate needing to replace/recondition it at any time, which would not likely be worth the cost. But generally any 2001 car, or older, that you purchase used is a shot in the dark as to how long it will last or how many repairs will be needed. That being said I have a 2005 GEN 2 with 240,000 miles with the original hybrid battery. I purchased it new so I know the car, but I also understand that the hybrid battery could go at any time and I will have been very fortunate to have had it last this long. I believe it is the exception, not the rule.
While counting miles, personally I take %10 of highway miles for that type of situations. Because a highway drive provides optimal conditions for a car and minimizes wear and tear, also cleans the engine Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Totally agreed, the heat kills the battery. And the other cause of heating is dirt. Just keep it clean and also put the filter on the cooling vent at the rear seat, which is sold separately at dealers for ten bucks Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Hello. I have a 2011 Prius, can you please tell me where the air cooling vent location is on the rear seat? Thanks!
I can only offer my own experience. My 2012 Prius Plug-in had a 4.4 kwh battery that Gave me 20 kms of EV range when it was new. When I sold it last year, after 12 years of constant use, it was getting 17 kms EV range. It was working fine, but with a 15% drop in range capacity.
My 2005 Prius lasted 20 years. I am not the first owner, I picked up the car with just short of 50,000 miles in 2007. Mileage was great, in the high 40MPG in the summer, down to about 42 in winter (Southern New England). I snickered as I passed gas stations showing $4 per gallon (and over) in 2008. I turned it in this May for a 2023 Prius Prime. Gas mileage was in the low 40s in the summer, high 30s down to 35 in winter. But that is a solid 20 years. I did a search for a replacement battery pack after my nephew took everything apart last Summer (2024), cleaned all contacts and put it together. He suggested that my mileage would improve. It did not. I will note that the ‘05 did not have an air filter for the battery pack but the fan was clean, so battery cooling did not ever suffer. The car was mostly outside in terms of storage. The reconditioned battery pack would have cost around $900 and I was seriously thinking about that if my nephew was going to return this summer. He owns a RAV-4 hybrid and his mother owns a Highlander Hybrid, so he knows how to take apart the battery systems. As for the 2023 Prime, it is an XSE model but does not have all of the options. My 2005 had all of the options plus seat heaters that I think were aftermarket. I noted that the seat heaters had a tendency to really drain the battery and reduce mileage. I used them for a year or so and quit using them. That 2005 Prius is still out there, probably went though an auto auction somewhere. Its battery is NOT dead. It has 230,000 miles on it. I replaced the 12-volt battery twice, changed oil at regular intervals and took good care of the car.
