12 volt hybrid battery vs 12 volt standard battery

I just came from a Toyota dealership wanting to purchase a lifetime battery (meaning it would be replaced after it's life expectancy for free) who told be there is a significant difference between a 12 volt hybrid and 12 volt standard battery. All I'm looking to do is replace and older 12 volt battery since it's starting to lose voltage being 4 years old. Is there really a difference between the two types or is this just hogwash? It's going into a 2010 Prius. The hybrid battery itself had already been replaced about 8 months ago.

 

Thank you royrose. I can deal with the fact that the battery is an AGM type and that it is located in the rear of the vehicle. I've changed out the battery before and replaced it with a yellow top optima battery which has been great. What gets me is the fact that they make such a big deal saying that this is not a standard 12 volt and some special "12 volt hybrid battery" that needs to be installed. Why cause such confusion over something so simple. I had received a coupon that quoted lifetime guarantee with the exception of hybrid batteries. The $2000 to $4000 hybrid battery is quite different than a $200 12 volt battery and was only looking to replace the 12v. The coupon also stated that this excludes "hybrid batteries" which led me to believe that hybrids themselves would be honored. It did not state that hybrid vehicles would not be included in this deal. Live and learn I guess. To answer your question I currently have over 166,000 miles on the vehicle and going strong.

 

Hi Bisco. The coupon I received does state that a lifetime warranty is on a 12 volt battery as I stated before. This coincides with the current vehicle being owned by the original owner and is registered with the VIN of the vehicle. It is a special that Toyota advertises from time to time and is to be honored by all Toyota dealerships around the country should your battery ever need to be replaced. You can either have the dealership or yourself install the part. That is, if your vehicle qualifies for the exchange. Apparently hybrids do not.

 

Hi Sam S 2.
The only difference with the battery is that the Prius has an AGM battery (as stated by RoyRose) which is a different construction type than your wet cell battery. The two makes of AGM's that I know of are Optima and Odyssey. No worries, this dealership already has a two out of five customer satisfaction rating in both sales as well as service. If they feel they don't need repeat business in service or sales, Not my monkey, not my circus! In other words if that's how they wish to run their business, it's their concern, not mine. I'm sure I'm not the only customer they've recently lost.

 

Bisco. The coupon I received was for $199 with the lifetime battery warranty. In other words for as long as you own that vehicle with that VIN number your battery would get a replacement from any Toyota dealer. The coupon says not available for all models, but does say "does not include hybrid batteries" not hybrid vehicles. Spoke with their service manager who wanted to SELL me a battery way above what I could get an AGM battery for. Still no lifetime warranty. Gee thanks for the "great offer" but I'll pass. It's all good, love the product dislike the so called service reps.