How far should I be able to drive when I only use the electrical engine?

Hi Mike, others here are more "educated" then me LOL, but I'll tell you what I think.
1. If your really careful you should be able to go maybe a half mi. or so. When I drop off my daughter at her place of work after I get off the exit the road goes very slightly downhill then level so I'd say I go about a half mi. with just electric, but it really doesn't prove much of anything it's just fun to try to keep it in electric mode.

2.It's not really practical under the right circomstances you could go maybe 1,0000. mi and keep the batter in that range.

3.No it's not

4. From what I've seen here a very rapid discharge and then charge rate that shows the battery wildly swinging from a full charge (green) to low charge (red) is an indication of the hybrid battery on it's last legs.

By the way we talking about the hybrid battery here not the little 12v. battery

Good luck with your purchase

 

FYI - from what I have read here and from the warranty info in my 2010 the warranty on the batteries is 8 years/100,000 miles. In some states 10 years/100,000 miles. So if you are buying a low milage 2004 you would have some miles and about 2 years left on the warranty.

I recommend taking any used car to a certified mechanic before buying unless it is a great deal (expect repairs).

 

The -best- way to check the hybrid battery is to take the car to a Toyota dealer and have them check it. They will be able to tell you how well the modules are still matched. This alone will be quite informative. Usually, one module will fail, and that will rapidly degrade the rest of the battery (causing the system to cycle the battery excessively).

This will cost you up to about $100, not cheap, but possibly saving you a bundle. Some dealers -may- give you a break on this cost, especially if you are buying the car from them (you should insist on a free printout of this before buying the car).

Replacing the hybrid battery with a new one will cost around $3000. There is a $200 bounty on the failed battery from Toyota, and you -may- be able to get up to $500 for it on ebay.

Your idea of driving in EV (electric vehicle) mode for x miles is interesting, but remember, the Prius is a gasoline powered car. It would be very difficult to force it to stay in EV mode for any reasonable time. It will switch to the ICE (internal combustion engine) -before- the battery reaches 30% of full charge.

 

My record is 3 miles.

I dont recommend it, but it was late at night and the last open gas station before getting on a highway was taped off due to being a crime scene at 3am.

I ran out of gas on the freeway doing 70. I coasted down the next exit and took a road another couple miles all the way down to a 24 hour gas station, and the last bar went away and it stopped as I pulled up to the pump.

With a smaller charge you can go anywhere from 1/4 mile to 1 mile on electric, low speed of course and once again not recommended at all.