Prius as a non-daily driving car, will low mileage be harmful to the battery?

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and actually not a Prius owner (yet). I've been looking for a car with good cargo space to use on the weekends primarily (short distance excursions, the occasional long distance trip, but mostly running errands). I have other modes of transportation during the weekdays so total annual mileage of the car would be relatively low. I plan to have it really until the maintenance and upkeep costs become too much to keep it running.

I know the main reason people get the Prius is because of the fuel economy, and the point is to really drive these cars to reap the benefits. But aside from that, I have a chance to get a good deal on a 2012 Prius II from a neighbor. I know it's been well taken care of and maintained. The offer is pretty sweet. It's got low mileage (under 50k) so I'm sure there is still plenty of life left in the hybrid battery (which is my main concern to keep ownership costs low).

My question is, given the low mileage the car would be driven and that it would only be driven 1-2 times a week - would this be harmful to the hybrid battery? Would I just end up replacing the battery sooner or more often? Right now, the price I would be paying for it would be a better deal than getting something non-hybrid in the same year but all that would go out the window if I just have to end up replacing the battery (I'm guessing a couple of thousand for this from what I was told) because of low mileage.

 

thanks for the comments. Well, the only thing is I live in the city and the car would be parked on residential street. Usually not anywhere near where I can plug it in to keep it charged or using a battery tender (but that's for the 12V which isn't as expensive as replacing as the hybrid battery so I'm not so much concerned about it).

S Kieth, I really don't have the option of using it another day of the week. There would be no point actually since the commute is going to be to short to make a difference and then I have to struggle with finding city parking after work which can be really tough during weekdays.

So it sounds like I don't have to really worry about harming the NIHM battery from driving it once or twice a week as long as I drive it long enough to get it warmed up and ensure the NIHM battery tops up.

 

bisco, I've managed to put less than 5k a year on my old car for several years. Yeah, there really isn't advantage driving a prius with that kind of mileage but if the price is right, why not? Besides circumstances can always change where I would be needing to drive the car on a more regular basis.

tanglefoot, I had to change the battery out of my old car when there was a period when I rarely used it for a couple of months. I didn't know that the electronics in the car still draws out a little bit of power from the battery even when not in use.