Hybrid battery life

We get this question all the time about Prius Hybrid Battery Life so I will attempt to answer it here. Toyota states that a new Hybrid battery has an eight year lifespan however the reality is that it is not that simple. Lifespan is dependent on a number of factors including age of the vehicle, usage, mileage on the clock and how well you look after your vehicle.

 

How do you use your vehicle?

Are you an Uber or Taxi driver driving 500 miles per week or and do you use your vehicle for private use only driving to and from work. How you use your vehicle will affect the lifespan of your hybrid battery. An Uber driver driving their Prius 1200 miles per week will be cycling their hybrid battery much more than a private user.  Therefore it is logical that using their hybrid in this way will shorten the lifespan.

 

How old is your vehicle?

It is common for us to see private usage vehicles come in for reconditioning at the 10-11 year. Vehicles used as Taxi services or Uber appear to fail much earlier as we generally see these vehicles turning up at the 5 year .

How balanced is your hybrid battery?

A key failure point of hybrid batteries is when the individual cells become unbalanced from one another. A typical 2 Gen series Toyota Prius has 28 individual cells and each of these cells have a capacity of approximately 6500mah. Over time this capacity deteriorates and hybrid battery life goes down to as low as 1500mah. This deterioration however, is never even while some cells maybe as low as 1500mah others could be 5000mah or higher. An unbalanced hybrid battery will deteriorate faster than one that is evenly balanced. for more information regarding Hybrid environmental technology please click the link

How often do you service your vehicle?

A hybrid vehicle is a balance between an electric drive and a gas engine. A poorly performing gas engine will reduce your fuel economy and put added strain on the hybrid battery as result Prius Hybrid battery life goes down. Toyota Prius in particular are very sound mechanically, that often leads to a lot of neglect. Vehicles having done higher mileage are typically prone to this neglect having done 1ooooo miles plus without any issues.if have any question regarding you vehicle hybrid battery please contact us