Sorry for asking a dummy question. I have a 2006 Ford Escape hybrid. The 12v battery is needing to be replaced. The last replacement was at the Ford dealership a few years ago but with Covid the wait time Now is over a week. I have a battery set aside at Ford. I’ve changed batteries years ago in my old Honda Civic and feel I should do this myself but wondering if there is something I need to know about replacing a low voltage battery in a hybrid vs in a non-hybrid. I’m assuming it is the same but not sure and nothing in the owner’s manual was helpful.
Cheers.

 

Nothing special because it's a hybrid.

Disconnect negative first.
Disconnect positive.
Loosen clamping mechanism
remove battery
Install new battery.
Tighten clamping mechanism.
Connect positive first
Connect negative.

 

Amazing, I had exactly the same question. As I'm going over the maintenance records for my new-to-me 2010 FEH, I found that the existing 12v battery was replaced 4 years ago. Right now it's doing fine, no problems, but I expect to have to replace it sooner than later.

Glad to hear it's just like every other car with no strangeness because of the hybrid system.

 

Thanks. Put the new one in yesterday. No issues except getting the pin/clamp unscrewed was a struggle.

 

"Generally" it will wear less than a typical ICE car, especially in northern climates with winter, because all that the 12v battery does is power up the electronics for the traction battery to turn over the engine, rather than actually having the duty of starting the engine by itself. Given that hybrids will get away with smaller batteries while getting just as good of life out of them if not better, the fact that the FEH still uses the big battery that would normally be starting the V6 models can also attribute to better life expectancy.

 

Thanks, I had the feeling there would be some benefit from the 12v battery having a less-severe duty cycle in the hybrid. It makes sense.