I'm seriously considering buying a 2006 Civic Hybrid - my first hybrid vehicle. I know the battery pack is warranteed for 8 years and 80,000 miles, but I tend to drive my vehicles much longer than that (my last two Toyotas have 280,000 and 250,000 miles, respectively). Given that, I could reasonably expect to have to replace the battery pack two or three times over the life of the vehicle, on my dime.

Can anyone tell me how much that replacement cost will run (parts and labor)?


Kind of related, lithium-ion batteries routinely degrade over time. Initially in a fairly linear fashion, then accelerating as they approach the end of their service life (think the battery in your laptop). I would expect, therefore, that that degradation would slowly manifest itself as slowly worsening fuel efficiency as the battery motor becomes less and less able to assist the gas engine (because its battery will not hold a charge as long). I suppose hybrid technology simply hasn't been in place long enough to provide much in the way of real world experience in that regard, but I'd be interested in the thoughts and experiences of folks who've owned hybrid vehicles for several years. Tangentially, one would think that a hybrid vehicle which receives modest assistance from its battery motor (a la the Civic) would experience less of that degradation than would a vehicle which receives significant assistance (a la the Prius). Thoughts?

TIA.

Jeff