"But what happens when the battery dies?"
 

How many of us have had questions like that directed at us, usually by a friend or acquaintance who is trying to justify their V-8 powered leviathan of the highway?

Here is a one click answer...... (the link is too long)

Go to eBay and search 'Prius'.

There is a guy in New York who is selling his 2002 Prius, with over 255,000 miles on it for 5 grand! He states that everything works perfectly and that the batteries show no diminished capacity.

Let Mr. Hummer chew on THAT for a while.:shade:

Re: "But what happens when the battery dies?"
 

But that car is only 5 years old. It would also be interesting to see how a 10 year old Prius is holding its value too.

I ask this since I tend to keep a car for 9-10 years.

Re: "But what happens when the battery dies?"
 

I don't know if I'd take the word of a guy who's trying to sell his car on eBay as gospel. I would rather hear from people who've actually had to have the battery replaced. I love my TCH, but I am not looking forward to shelling out $4500 for battery replacement in 7 or 8 years (I keep my cars for 10 or more years). But I could just as easily be facing that kind of layout for a new transmission or engine for a Navigator or Tahoe or whatever.

And I don't understand why it has to be 'us against them' with the V8 people, anyway. To each his own. I don't flaunt my hybrid at my big-engine friends, and they don't feel the need to justify themselves to me. And that's as it should be. :-)

Re: "But what happens when the battery dies?"
 

More anecdotal evidence...I am fixing up my 95 Camry (200K+ miles and going strong!) and needed some air bags. So I go to the local import car grave yard and while I'm waiting for someone to pull the parts I'm talking to the parts guy. He saw my 07 Camry and didn't even realize they made a hybrid version. So we're talking about hybrids in general and I ask him about batteries. I said if he ever gets a TCH battery to give me a call. He turns around and points to 3 HCH batteries on the shelf behind him and says 'you want these, I can't get rid of them and I'm tired of looking at them.' He says noone has EVER called him about hybrid batteries. That's a very good sign to me.

Re: Couple of thoughts
 

On battery life...

The Prius system has been on the market in Japan since 1997. Save for one early defect in a ultrasonically welded tie-point (not inherent to the battery itself), they have been flawless.

The state of California compelled Toyota to warranty the entire Hybrid system, including the battery for ten years or 150,000 miles. Toyota signed off on that.

On us versus them... I could care less, HOWEVER... since I've been driving this car, every so often some meathead in a hot rod or SUV will come along and offer an unsolicited opinion at a stop light before stomping the accelerator and taking the hole shot off a green light.

Beyond that, even some friends of mine have made comments along the lines of : "You'll never recover the extra cost", etc. The comments about battery failure in a few years occur fairly often too... This, typically from the same folks who think it needs to be plugged in at night.

There is just a lot of bad information floating around.

At ~ANY~ chronological age a car with >250,000 miles that still moves under it's own power is remarkable.

Re: Couple of thoughts
 

So what does the "entire Hybrid system" warranty really cover? MG1 and MG2? The eCVT? The computers that run the eCVT and regen? I ask as I don't have a clear idea of what the Hybrid warranty actually does cover.

Re: Couple of thoughts
 

OK. Straight from the new car warranty literature accompanying my purchase (understand this is in Canada, but the components covered should be the same):

Basic Complete Vehicle: 36 months / 60,000 Km
Powertrain(1): 60 months/ 100,000 Km
Hybrid-related components(2): 96 months / 160,000 Km

(1) Hybrid transaxle (w/ motor) is covered by Powertrain warranty
(2) Includes: HV Battery, Battery Control Module, Hybrid Control Module, Inverter with Converter

I read this as meaning that of the hybrid components, all of the motors and PSD are covered by the 5 year powertrain warranty, and the rest of the hybrid components (incl. battery) are covered by the 8 year hybrid component warranty.

Re: "But what happens when the battery dies?"
 

The 150k hybrid warranty is valid not only in CA, but few other states as well, including NY (usually the states that follow strict CA emission rules would get extended warranty).

Re: "But what happens when the battery dies?"
 

So does the 10-year CA warranty apply to where you bought the car or where you live? I bought the car in Maryland but if I move to CA does that mean I'll be covered?

Re: "But what happens when the battery dies?"
 

Typically, (at least on the commercial side of things) such agreements apply only to vehicles originally sold and titled in the state where such a mandate exists.

But it stands to reason that an OEM would have an extremely high level of confidence in the product before agreeing to such a thing.