Car batteries in PHX die fast, what about Hybrids?

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by azjack

It really is a good question, especially if someone was considering the purchase of a used hybrid like the Prius or the Camry Hybrid. If you are buying something anywhere close to that battery warranty date/mileage limit, it could end up being a more expensive used vehicle. Picking up a normal battery for a hundred bucks or so versus a multi-thousand dollar cost.

Not sure if the early demise of regular car batteries in this environment would be comparable to hybrid battery life. The answer is probably out there. If you research it further and find something, post it here.

the story with toyota hybrid batteries is more about time than mileage - lots of reports out there of them going 200k. As for our weather being "harder" on them, if you think back to the EV1, it wasnt even sold in cold climates because cold conditions reduced the range significantly - a warm "dead" battery puts out more juice than a cold "dead" battery.. battery season in Michigan starts with the first frost and continues until nightime temps moderate - potholes break up the plates inside the batteries & salty brine corrodes all the connections & wiring terminals.

if you're buying *any* car used, you need to have a bank account with repair bucks at the ready - hybrid or combustion powered, American or Asian. You're just as likely to get hammered on all the *other* parts that fail on a hybrid as the batteries. Hybrids still have alternators, water pumps, cat convertors and tires - the batteries are more of a bogey man that doesnt come around very often - and battery packs can be repaired diy or bought used at a substantial discount if you have more time than money.

[Desertspiritsteve]

I bought my 2010 Fusion Hybrid in 2009. I have about 22K miles on it now. I took it to the Ford dealer last summer and asked them to check the batteries. My experience has been 3 years on a battery and I didn't want to have everything to dead and disappear from navigation, Sirius and all the other car settings. They said everything was fine. The other day I got something in the mail from Wilhelm Automotive with a coupon for $100. off on a hybrid car battery pack RECONDITIONING. As I understand, the 12V battery keeps track of the car's settings and the high voltage battery pack does everything else. Everything is electric including the a/c compressor and power steering.

[urbex]

Originally Posted by Mouser

Thanks ! I did not realize that

However, That would not do me any good at sunset point on a Saturday afternoon

Wow...it's really that big of a deal to just drive home and wait until Monday? Your life will come to a crashing halt if those batteries aren't replaced right then and there?

Now that said...that is exactly the kind of situation that has me concerned about about electric only vehicles, along with recharge times, but I do like the redundancy of hybrids. Then again, in the 60 or so "regular" vehicles I've owned, I've yet to have a single catastrophic failure in anything I've maintained properly and wasn't a race vehicle.