I just reached 25,000 miles and took my TCH into the dealer to get the oil changed. The dealer has a great mechanic who heard a squeal coming from the rear brakes so he took the wheels off and replaced the brakes per a TSB. In looking at the old pads, we compared them with the new ones and the thickness was virtually identical. He estimated that I had used less than 5% for 25,000 miles.

The front brakes are in the same condition.

Based on this information, I do not ever expect to have to replace the pads.

 

Some Prius owners claimed over 100k or more on the same pads, others had problems when driving very little, apparently the discs would rust quickly and extra friction would wear pads faster, but the bottom line is how you drive. If driven carefully, the breaks actually need to be activated only bellow 8 MPH, otherwise electric motor will slow the car down, except for emergency, so yes, the pads should last much longer. I usually needed to change pads between 20-30k, due to constant traffic and driving on the breaks half of the time, but now my TCH is over 50k and they seem to be still ok, so yes, another thing less to worry about. Keep in mind that as the disc wears out, it gets rough and pads will wear faster in the future, but 100k should be easy for most drivers, especially when you watch MPG and try to avoid a lot of hard breaking.

 

I've gone about 5K and my breaks are at 90%, 80% (Front, Rear).
At this rate I will likely need to replace around 20-30K, which is about average for vehicles I've owned. If they last longer, great, but I'm not expecting it.

 

As Peter said, how you drive will be the biggest factor. I just replaced the front pads on my 2005 Honda Civic HX (with manual transmission) at 81,000-miles. Had it not been for the front passenger-side pad, it would have been well over 100,000-miles before I had to replace the front pads. Midas said I will probably go through another set of front pads before the rear pads need to be replaced. With the manual transmission, the engine braking that I do is a significant reason. I just had my 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid (FEH), which I purchased used about 5-weeks ago with 60,000-miles on it, inspected, and the brake pads have a long way to go before needing to be replaced. The dealer who originally sold it and re-sold it did all of the service, and the brake pads have never been replaced. My FEH has an "L" gear, and I assume the TCH and other hybrids do as well...Using it is like using engine braking, and it should significantly extend your brake pad life.

 

Actually you don't need to use lower gear for breaking on TCH, When you press the breaks at slower rate, the breaks don't activate, car slows down by using electric motor as a generator to recharge batteries, the more pressure on the breaks, the more current flows and higher breaking force up to the point where mechanical breaks kick in, all under computer control. Breaks will activate right away if you press them hard or fast or under 8 MPH (at such slow speed there is not enough voltage to charge battery and electric current is not dissipated). If somebody drives in very spirited way, racing from light to light with hard breaking, TCH will use mechanical breaks most of the time and difference in pads wear from normal car will be smaller, but still should be there. In my case I'm mostly traffic bound and it seems everybody is driving like molasses in dead of winter, so mostly electric breaking is used. If Mike TCH pads lost 10-20% over 5k miles, either there is something wrong with the breaks or the way he drives.