Prius classic HV battery life record??

Near as I can tell, it is function of exposure to:

• heat - kills the traction battery
• heavy discharge->charge - charging is exothermic so drawing down the traction battery leads to more charge induced, heating. This tends to happen in hilly areas more frequently than flat and higher speeds.

I upgraded my traction battery to NHW20 modules three years ago at 130,000 miles. I've been doing a survey of all 38 modules only to find one has gone bad. The others still have 3.5-5.5 Ahr capacity.

Bob Wilson

 

Also
#3 deep discharge. If left on with say an ICE that will not start, the HV batteries can be discharges to a low voltage. Also leaving the car undriven for long periods of time will drain the battery from self-discharge.

At some point this will reduce the total capacity of the battery. The Prius traction battery is identical to a NiMH power tool battery which you may have some experience with. Same things apply, except that because you usually have the battery SoC between 50 and 70% you get many more cycles than the same battery discharged from 10 to 100% over and over.

 

The record I'm aware of is 349K miles at John's Stuff - Toyota Prius Owner - Jesse 4.

 

Well, my 2001 is at 284,000 miles on the original battery. Up until today I have had no problems, but I'm afraid my luck has run out. I had the triangle of death with 3006, 3016 and 3020 codes. I was able to drive it home, but I am evaluating my options. I love the car, and it saves me money on my 80 miles/day commute, so I am considering replacing the battery. Time to do some research.

 

Failed traction (HV) battery, what to do? - Prius Wiki

If you have more info or corrections, feel free to makes changes to the Wikia entry.

 

I might try to force charge the battery back up to 80% SOC and maybe measure the capacity..
How to measure traction battery capacity | PriusChat

The real question in your case is if there is one bad pair of cells or some are heating up.

 

I have had such good luck with my Prius, that I wouldn't know what it means to "force charge the battery back to 80% SOC." I do know that, once I got the triangle of death with aforementioned codes (which I reset with my non-traction battery aware code scanner), the SOC (as indicated on the dash display) fluctuated wildly, going from 3/4 to 1/4 essentially instantly, then charging back up, then back down, etc. Eventually (matter of minutes) the codes return. The battery cooling fan has been on more recently, and is essentially constantly on now.

I'm leaning towards a Re-InVolt battery pack. I am comfortable with the DIY install. But if there is a possibility that my battery could somehow be saved for less cost, I would love to hear about how. Also, I am in Southern California, so I would love to hear any info about local Prius-aware shops or battery rebuilders, etc.

Thanks,

 

Force charge means being in D and having feet on both pedals. 80% SoC should be represented by all bars being filled on the MFD. (On Gen 2, all bars filled = 80% SoC.)

 

Does all bars filled=80% on the Gen 1 as well?

Could doing a force charge potentially "fix" my problem, at least for a while? Seems unlikely, but I can always hope.
Thanks,

 

Battery completely green = 80% on the Gen I.

A "force charge" will not fix your problem. The only things that will fix your problem is replace bad cell(s) or a new, salvaged or rebuilt batt pack. If it was me, I would go for cell replacement but that is a personal decision that must be based on your skill level and comfort with electricity. There are numerous threads here on replacing a cell or cells.