Will the battery of the Prius I last the lifetime of the car?

 

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My two cents: we really have no idea of the capabilities of the battery. Many believe it will work in excess of 100k or 200k miles. It's basically a competition between the longevity of Japanese electrical systems and Japanese combustion systems.

 

I'm inclined to believe that the battery will probably last the reasonable useable life of the vehicle, baring any mechanical or chemical problems. However, if the vehicle is physically and mechanically fine when the battery chooses to fail, it might be worth replacing the battery and letting the car drive longer. Especially if the vehicle has been trouble free to that point.

 

I would say that it'd last the lifetime of the vehicle. Batteries in notebook computers (many of which have the same chemical composition as the Prius' battery) tend to last for many years, and they lead a harsher life than the Prius' battery in terms of charging/discharging. The Prius keeps the battery within its optimal charge range most of the time, whereas consumers don't tend to use batteries with as much care.

Even if the Prius' battery won't last as long as the car itself, by the time the battery needs to be replaced, there will probably be a lot more hybrids on the road. That alone will probably reduce the cost a great deal by the time replacements would be in the picture.

 

I was told at one of my training courses at Toyota that they feel it could last up to 15 years.

 

I'm always happy to hear from an experienced and thoughtful Toyota Tech. Thanks for confirming my feelings about battery life.

 

NiMH batteries have shown remarkable durability in most applications. Given the tight control the computer maintains on the charge state of the battery in the Prius it might well last far beyond current projections.

 

The next question is how much will the battery set cost to replace. In 2003 when I was looking at the first generation Prius I asked the question of battery replacement. The dealer had to drag the service manager out from the shop to even find the part. The answer was $6k + labor. I hope in the future that these costs would go down as if the battery pack fails at 100k+ miles, the repair would not be very economical.

 

I believe Toyota has stated that a battery at this time is $3k or so and it will likely go down very shortly. Am I correct?

 

There's two considerations that should give reassurance.

1. Battery cost is dropping as production increases. Carmakers price parts based on supply and demand, not on cost plus margin.

2. The Prius battery pack is rebuildable at the factory. The individual battery modules can be removed and replaced. So there should be a significant drop in the cost to create reconditioned batteries if/when there is a large number of battery replacements taking place.