People who use their brakes a lot and charge the battery more often?
People who use their brakes less?

People who accelerate gently, which drains the batteries less?
People who accelerate hard and exercise the betteries more?

Leadfoots?
Hypermilers?

People who live in hot climates, cold climates, moderate climates?
People who drive up and down hills often?
People who live where it is flat?

Basically is it healthier for the batteries to use them (charge and discharge) more or less?
Or are they designed to last longest under typical use?

What can I do to make my batteries last longer?

Need fewer troops to support.
Drive a hybrid.
Best tank 71.65 MPG.

Before this car I spent two years learning hypermiling on my 2004 HCH1.

I would say hot climates are probably bad seeing as the Insight had disproportional IMA failure rates in hot states, which lead Honda to extend the warranty in those states first.

Good question. My first thought is that those who run the car hard and charge and discharge the battery more frquently will have shorter (time wise) battery lifes, as there are a finite number of charge cycles. I have no evidence to support that thought though. Just a guess. I think climate is a factor too, just not as much of one.

Alden Bowles
2005 Toyota Prius II HSD

Anything that threatens the KOH electrolyte will limit the battery life. Primarily, heat is the enemy and that can come from battery abuse. For example, I can climb Brindley Mountain at 80 miles per hour and get 'great MPG' on the way up. Unfortunately, it comes at a severe drain on the battery. Then once I'm at the top, the battery has to recharge, again putting heat from resistance heating into the battery. Get the battery hot enough and the water in the KOH electrolyte will leave. Once the electrolyte is gone, the battery stops working like a battery.

In the summer, I park in 'shade' to keep the vehicle, specially the battery, as cool as possible. In the winter, I park in the sun to try and avoid cold-stressing the battery. So the key is trying to keep the battery in a 'happy place' that is not too hot nor too cold.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

To summarize previous posts, avoid heavy discharges on the battery pack and shelter the car from extreme temperatures when possible. And avoid long hard accelerations.

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
www.cleanmpg.com

"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

Or... as an alternative... use the battery as heavily as possible, as much as possible, to get great MPG as much as possible, and get the battery replaced still under warranty.

When driving big mountains (hint they are not in Alabama ), Prius drivers with data monitoring devices ought to take a peak at the maximum HV battery temperature. It is common to reach 45 oC, which has been stated as the highest 'happy' temperature for NiMH. There and higher, I turn on the cabin A/C in flow-through (not recirc) mode. Cooling then proceeds at about 1 oC per 5 minutes. Not surprising, the most battery heating is on the downhill side of the mountain. Not restricted to summertime operations.

It may be that I am extending my HV battery life by actively participating in its thermal management. Or, is this just another example of Prius nerd-dom? No evidence pointing either way from here, except that at 105 k odometer miles, my max and min module voltages track within 0.15 volts, almost always.

The exceptions occur on the cold side. If you ask much from the HV battery when it is below about 8 oC, that voltage spread can easily triple. This is the other domain where (perhaps) we can actively participate in HV battery longevity. After a cold-soak startup, be gentle for a while with those foot-pedals.

Have not explored the (analogous) role of using the cabin heater to get the HV battery into its thermal happy-place.

DAS

Yeah, I worry about our HCH's battery when we drive in the mountains. My SOC looks like a yo-yo and I know that it must be hard on the battery. I always thought it would be bad from the perspective of running the battery down low, but never about the temperature aspect.

So what are these data monitering devices you mention?

Commuter car, grocery getter, and summer road tripper--average 10k miles per year.


Winter road trips and ski trips, bad weather commuter and my wife's "daily" driver--expected average 4k miles per year.

Your HCH has a 'onboard diagnostic interface' somewhere near the steering wheel. An HCH expert will be able to tell you which devices are compatible with that vehicle's system. And what parameters it can reveal.

Scan gauge is now popular add-on for many vehicles, but I don't know what temperatures, etc, it can display.

DAS

Actually, no.

I have read even the best hybrid systems only recover 30% of the kinetic energy.
This means 70% is wasted. (which of course is better than regular cars which waste 100% when the brakes are used.)

So, since 70% of the energy is wasted when you brake, for the best MPG you should avoid needing to use your brakes, which would exercise the battery less.

Need fewer troops to support.
Drive a hybrid.
Best tank 71.65 MPG.

Before this car I spent two years learning hypermiling on my 2004 HCH1.