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

The batteries in the Civic, and all Hybrids to date are Nickel Metal Hydride, not Lithium Ion. I believe they experience a far more gradual failure pattern then Li-Ion. I believe a key to the battery life is that the car never allows the battery's charge to get much less than 50%, unlike your cell-phone battery. Honda's website simply says that the batteries are made to last 10 years under normal driving. Toyota has extensively tested there batteries to 180,000 miles and have only shown slight losses in power. You can bet that if Honda is offering an 80,000 mile warranty, they expect them to last far longer.

I believe the batteries currently run in the $3000 range, but this should fall considerably in several years as quantities are increasing. There are a few Insight owners here who have experienced failure long after the warranty was up, and Honda still paid for most of the cost as a PR move. Insights have been around for 6 years and have similar but older drivetrains to the Civic, so you can learn a lot about what to expect with high mileage on Insight forums.


As far as your thinking that the Civic battery will experience less wear because it offers less assistance, I'm not sure I agree. The Civic's IMA system does provide less assistance, but the battery and motor are smaller, and thus likely works just as hard as the Prius's.


Good luck with your decision. How many miles per year do you routinely drive?

I think Honda has carefully engineered the system to preserve the life of the batteries. The computer will not let the battery charge past a certain point nor discharge very far. Keeping the charge in a narrow range decreases the wear on the battery.

Also, note that if you've got an AT-PZEV Civic, the battery warranty is 10 years/150,000 miles, as someone on here pointed out earlier.

Here's a link to Honda's official info.

Would-be hypermiler

The 10 year / 150,000 IMA battery warranty applies to 2006 Civic Hybrids distributed in CA, NY, ME, MA and CT only. These states have laws which extend the warranty on the battery and key emissions-related components (15 years / 150,000 miles) for AT-PZEV vehicles.

Check this link:
http://automobiles.honda.com/info/ne...ategory=Accord

I believe all Civic Hybrids are AT-PZEV. As Jon pointed out, the length of the warranty depends on the state of purchase.

I drive 35,000 miles a year and hope to keep mine for 10 years which is over 350K miles.

Battery certainly was a concern and played a big part in my getting a Honda vs Toyota. I use the battery as conservatively as possible, avoid the use of cruise control (For other reasons as well) and at 70,000 miles has at least 90% capacity as new.

Like an insurance policy I bought an extended warranty to 10year/150K miles.
If that warranty expires and suppose it goes nearly flat at 200,000 I'll either drive it as is, but with less performance or find a used pack.

As we know hybrids are gaining market share and I'm sure aftermarket packs will eventually come available. Guaranteed junkyard packs are also a possibility.

If one goes to the dealer for a pack replacement, that $2,300 not only replaces the battery but also the electronic components which support it.

Honestly, I'm more conserned with the CVT failing before the battery.

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

Lets not forget that Honda and Toyota are investing heavily in the future of Hybrids. If we start hearing a lot of stories regarding battery failure and high out-of-pocket replacement costs in a few years, that will spell their doom. I am confident that the battery packs are engineered well enough to ensure that this doesn't happen.

Thanks for that info!

My car has the 8 Year/120,000 HondaCare policy plus the 10 Year/150,000 mile IMA Warranty and 15 Year/150,000 mile emissions system warranty since I am in NY.

This will add to my resale value!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the replies, guys. Sounds like it'll be around $3K per hit to replace the battery pack. Since I drive around 30K a year, and usually keep my vehicles until they won't run anymore, I'd fully expect to end up buying at least one, if not more. I hope, as has been mentioned, that the price is likely to come down as hybrids increasingly gain traction in the marketplace.

Arch, thanks for corrrecting my misunderstanding about the type of batteries which are used.

Jeff