I keep hearing that Toyota and Honda have a 10 year warranty on their batteries. Is that really true? Do they last longer, and what will it cost to replace one?

 

Honda's warranty varies by state. In most states the IMA battery warranty is 8 years 80,000 miles. Back in a flash.....

http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-hybrid/warranty.aspx

Toyota's warranty:

http://www.toyota.com/html/hybridsyn...l/battery.html

http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/warranty.html

 

Non-warranty, Prius battery replacements have been running around $4.7k including labor. However, some have used salvage packs, $500-1,200 and I'm working on a battery refurbishment technique that should be significantly less expensive, $50 although you'll have to do a lot of labor, ~40 hrs.

Bob Wilson

 

I've also seen prices around $4k for non-warranty replacements.

From Toyota in 2006:

http://www.toyota.com/html/hybridsyn...l/battery.html


Looks like the labor is not exactly cheap.

 

Nick, are you yanking our collective chains? Two posts, two topics... (the the other) Are you thinking of trading in your non-hybrid Highlander?

 

So I was checking out the battery pack specs, and the prices for individual cells. The Insight has:

Individual "C" size cells are rated up to 6000 mAh but I couldn't find any that claimed 6500 mAh.

Individual "D" size cells are rated up to 12,000 mAh.

The 6,000 mAh "C" cells are $6 each. 10,000 mAh "D" cells are $7.20 each in packs of 16.

Lets go with the "D" cells since they beat the original spec.

120 times $7.20 is $864!!!

$864!!!!! That is way less than the $4k plus they are charging for a new traction pack and half again the capacity!!

 

If my battery ever fails (out of warranty) I'll give serious thought to just replacing the individual cells, if that is possible.

 

4.7k! eek... This was the determining factor on why I decided on the Jetta over a HCH. The honda salesman wouldnt even quote me a figure for battery replacement, so I knew it was a pretty penny.

 

This is perfectly fine because people have different thresholds of 'risk avoidance.' An engineer, I enjoy dealing with new technologies. Others, like my wife, are not technical and really need a system that minimizes her need to master new technologies.

Bob Wilson

 

from what i have seen, the incidence of needing a replacement battery has been very small. there is a well known prius that recently reached almost 350,000 miles of use, and never had a battery problem.

unfortunately, it was hit by someone who ran a light and pretty much totalled. the driver was fine, the poor car wasn't.