[aprssig] Prius Battery Life and Replacement Cost

[Dale Blanchard]

Ray McKnight wrote:
> 
> After watching "Who Killed the Electric Car", the subject of the
> Prius came up.  We all love the concept of the Prius, but not so much
> Most of the other hybrids that fail to get much better mileage than
> A Corolla.  But the big debate revolves around battery life.  Toyota
> And most everyone else all promise the batteries will last "the life
> Of the car", but are not warranted past 100,000 miles.  10 years is also
> Murmured a lot as well.  Everyone has horror stories of rechargeable battery
> Failure, it's not a question of if, just when.  Given that a Prius with
> A bad battery is basically useless and will have near-zero resale value.
> The replacement cost has been quoted at anywhere between $5,500 to over
> $7,500 (I think Ford's are up at the top end of this range).  So will
> Prius be a throw-away 100,000 car?  Who knows for sure if the batteries
> Can survive high mileage or longer than 10 years?  Will it be cost effective
> To sink such a large amount of money replacing batt's in a 10+ year old
> Vehicle?  All of this has caused most of my debating friends conclude that
> Given the high initial acquisition cost, the cost/mile of ownership will
> Eventually be several times higher than a car with 35+mpg costing under
> $18,000.  And, no, I am not ignoring the environmental considerations.
> Comments?
> 
> Ray - WB3ABN
> Kingston, WA 
>
I read a report (don't know here it is now) that the Dust to Dust life 
cost of operating a Hybrid is more than a Humvee.
This took in the consideration of total longevity of each and all costs 
involved.
Dale