Probably had an older Honda hybrid, which had high rates of battery failure, especially in comparison to the Toyota hybrids.
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My current mechanic specializes in hybrids and works to maximize their life by figuring out which cells have died and whether they can be revived cost-effectively. I bought a 10 year, 100,000 mile warranty with my car for peace of mind. I know electronics can get flaky and want them to repair/replace on their time & $$$, not ours.
The display panel that contains lots of info is like $$900 or more, plus labor, diagnostics and who knows what.
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I got 200,000 miles out of my first Prius and the battery was still fine. I traded it in and even though it needed repairs, which I was open about, I still got money back. I don’t know too many gas cars which will get more than 200,000 miles without a lot of investment to keep them on the road.
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Yes, I had the same oil burning problem with my first Prius (2008) and it was a known problem with that generation. Otherwise, it required the least maintenance of any car I’ve ever driven. The oil burning problem is fixable, but I needed a relatively expensive catalytic converters repair at the same time. I wasn’t willing to invest in those repairs for a car with 200,000 miles, so I traded it in for a Prius Prime.
I agree with you about electric cars. They are more expensive to buy, but they are so much cheaper to run. The 2 concerns that keep me from buying one are range and battery life, which are interrelated. It’s not just how long the batteries last, but it’s the fact that their capacity declines over time and their performance is less in cold weather, which is a problem for me in New England. I have an electric boat, so I have first hand experience with batteries. All of this brings us back to the range issue because an aging battery in winter has less range than it does in summer or than it did when it was new. One way of dealing with this is to trade it in regularly, but this mitigates the savings on maintenance. It’s complicated.
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Battery longevity in an EV is an issue but probably not as big as some people think. The battery warranties for most EVs these days is around 8 yrs/100k miles. Typically the warranty kicks in if the battery degrades more than 20-30%. In other words: they don’t expect degradation of close to 30% in 8 years.
I had an early generation Leaf and saw degradation of about 10% in 9 years. Hardly noticed it, and that car had only 85 mile range. I plugged it in every night, which wasn’t ideal.
I think with range of most batteries now 200+ miles most people won’t notice degradation much if at all. And the battery management software is a lot better now, so there’ll probably be less degradation with the newer EVs.
The cold can be an issue for some EVs but those in colder climates should look for EVs with heat pumps and battery preconditioning. In practice, it may not matter for those using an EV for an around town car.
I can’t really speak to hybrids but I definitely wouldn’t be worried about having to replace an EV battery in 10 years.
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We are very interested in the Prius prime. But they seem hard to find. Inventory seems very low and not sure if the 23 is out. Would love to hear more about your car
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D21 drives her grandmother’s old 2010 Prius with 120,000 miles. Fantastic car and she/we have not had any problems.
So, even at this point, the car’s value is worth at least double the cost of a new battery.
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Our youngster friends now have a hybrid Prius and a hybrid Venza to replace a hybrid Prius with 200k (they bought refurbished) and a Lexus RX (250k, our gift to them with 150K). They run a small business that requires a lot of driving and said their next car is going to be a full EV as soon as they upgrade the panel. We are in WA, and hydroelectric power keeps our electricity affordable.
Fun fact—our 4+ year old Prius Prime got loaned to my niece for a little while. She used her family fast charger so it would be charged and ready for her to use the next day. When we loaned it out, we noticed the battery didn’t say it would go 32 miles on the electric charge like it did when it was brand new, it was more like a max of 28 miles. After we got it back, it was back up to a max of 32 miles on electric.
My friend, whose W has an older Prius plug in says yes, he’s heard that you can boost an aging battery and help strengthen its range by charging with faster charger.
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I have owned or driven the following hybrids / EVs:
Honda Insight hybrid 2000 - this car went with my ex when we broke up. He was still driving it as of five years ago. He had the battery replaced sometime in the early 2010s, I didn’t ask the cost. This car got something like 60 to 70 mpg.
Honda Civic hybrid 2003 - Mr. Stringbird replaced the battery on this car twice. Once he paid $800 for a battery from a junkyard in Ohio and the next time he paid $400 for one from North Carolina. That car got 45 to 50 mpg right up until it got rear ended and totaled, which I think was around the 180K mile mark.
Ford C-Max 2013 - this car has 183K miles on it. We have never replaced the battery. It originally got 44 or 45 mpg but it has degraded somewhat, getting more like 42 mpg these days.
Chevrolet Bolt EV 2017 - this car had a battery recall and replacement a year or two ago when as far as we were concerned the performance was still perfectly fine. So for better or worse, we won’t really know its battery lifespan for several more years.
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The dealers where I live have not yet received any of the newly re-designed Prius Primes ‘23, which should have been released 6 months ago and which were promised to the dealers in January. The largest dealer expects to get one in a month, the next largest dealer says 2-3 months.
They are offering me $18,000 in trade for my 4.5 year old Prius Prime with 104,000 miles. After Toyota price reductions at the time of purchase, $5000 in rebates, and $1000 trade in, I only paid $19,000 for the car new. Talk about a car holding its value!
I’m ready to buy a new one when they hit the streets.
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Also interested in the new 2023 Prius Prime - pretty sure the regular 2023 Prius was to hit dealerships in January and the Prime mid year (or at least announce pricing and availability in that timeframe). The variable for me is crazy markups in socal which I’m sure will be the case.
The federal tax credits are gone due to congressional action which now restricts these rebates to cars built here in the U.S.
Delays in availability of the Prius Prime are being blamed on parts availability problems and on the fact that Toyota will be selling this car in .pEurope, which they haven’t done with the Prius in the past. That creates a much bigger demand on their production capabilities.
I’m tempted to buy one in Canada where the exchange rate makes price much more attractive. However, the Primes are only sold in Canada with all wheel drive p, something which you can’t get here. That addition reduces gas mileage from 57 mpg to 49 mpg. The AWD can be a positive or negative depending on your needs, but my biggest concern would be service as the local dealerships may not have anyone trained on that technology.
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AWD technology may be new to the Prius, but obviously Toyota does make other vehicles with AWD. So, techs already have been servicing other vehicles with AWD. We own older Toyotas with AWD and have had no problems with it.
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We have had an all wheel drive Prius for about 3 or 3 1/2 years in the northeast of the US and have had also no trouble with it. It makes sense if you live in a snow belt.
The Prius IMHO does all wheel drive “correctly”, in that the rear wheels only have electric power. This means that you do not need a drive train from the gasoline engine (in the front) to the rear wheels. It also means that all wheel drive does not add much weight or drag (in contrast to a more normal all wheel drive).
One relative in Canada is on his second or third all wheel drive Toyota Highlander. He also lives in a snow belt.
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The EU voted to eliminate sales of new internal combustion engines by 2035. With the EU and California agreeing upon the same date, you can expect that research on internal combustion for passenger vehicles will stop very soon.
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One step forward towards a universal charging network:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/white-house-tesla-to-make-some-ev-chargers-available-to-all/
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That is a big deal, as the Tesla charging network works reliably just about everywhere. And the few times a station doesn’t work, it’s fixed pretty quickly. And it’s so simple, as you just plug in a Tesla and charging just starts immediately (as long as your credit card tied to the vehicle is up to date).
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The rumor that hybrid batteries fail after 10 years seems to have persisted despite all evidence to the contrary. When we purchased our 2009 Prius brand new in May of that year, I read numerous warnings about that on the Internet. Fortunately, at that time I was playing in a flag football league with a bunch of guys who worked at our local Toyota dealership. I asked the mechanics who worked there, as a group, if that was a real issue. They all said they had never had a Prius come into their garage with a failed hybrid battery. So I went ahead and bought it, and it was the best machine of any kind I’ve ever owned. It needed very few repairs over its entire lifespan. I transferred the title to it to my older son last fall, but unfortunately he had an accident in a snowstorm a few weeks ago and it was totaled. It was almost 14 years old and had 190,000 miles on it. Thankfully he and his girlfriend were unhurt. He is buying a Bolt next – his first car purchase on his own.
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Toyota hybrid batteries have generally been reliable. Early Honda hybrid batteries not so much. That is likely why 2004 generation Priuses are still common, but Civic hybrids from then are now rare.
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