quote:
The Prius battery (and the battery-power management system) has been designed to maximize battery life. In part this is done by keeping the battery at an optimum charge level - never fully draining it and never fully recharging it. As a result, the Prius battery leads a pretty easy life. We have lab data showing the equivalent of 180,000 miles with no deterioration and expect it to last the life of the vehicle. We also expect battery technology to continue to improve: the second-generation model battery is 15% smaller, 25% lighter, and has 35% more specific power than the first. This is true of price as well. Between the 2003 and 2004 models, service battery costs came down 36% and we expect them to continue to drop so that by the time replacements may be needed it won’t be a much of an issue. Since the car went on sale in 2000, Toyota has not replaced a single battery for wear and tear.
Guess we will find out in ~10 years what the battery costs are and how many need replacing. I for one am willing to take the gamble.
While the reported numbers are low (though, this doesn’t necessarily mean anything, since the numbers for Ford Exploders rolling over started out low as well), Prius owners are complaining of unexpected stalling.
The BBC account I heard this morning stated that the number of complaints had risen to over 30.