skip to content

Battery life, define replacment parameters

Created August 1, 2007, at 9:33 am by bruegge

I posted this in TCH ...got a few views..no responses...

this may be the better forum..

Most rechargable batteries wear out slowly and become less and less effective over time. I'm sure you have cell phone batteries....

My question is .. what is the "point" where toyota will replace (or if after the 100,000 mile warranty) I should replace my battery pack.

What type of performce loss or "flag" will let me know it's time.

I understand at this time the replacement cost is between $2000 and $3000 (US dollar).

Is it a test bench measurement like the "cold cranking amp rating" similar to lead acid starter batteries??

Is there a circuit in the comp module that "pops up" and says... "replace battery pack"??

I'm sure Toyota isn't looking forward to replacing a bunch of those in 6 or 7 years. I wonder if resale/tradein costs will be directly affected on if the pack has or has not been replaced..

I still await delivery of my 08 Camry (perhaps I should read the manual first when it arrives) But, you guys seem to have your finger on the pluse of this car .. so

thanks in advance

Scott

View user profile
ex-EV1 driver
Senior Member

4 years ago

Since your hybrid has both a battery-electric and an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) power plants and the ICE is the primary mode of power, you may not even notice when the battery starts to lose capacity. This is especially true if you are a mellow driver and drive mostly in flat terrain.
The most likely hint that there is a problem, with the Toyota or Ford drivetrain, will be that you will notice the car spending less time in "stealth" or battery-electric only mode. With the Honda drivetrain, it will be harder to detect since the battery-electric mode is so insignificant compared to the ICE mode.
I suspect, however, that all manufacturers have derated the battery use to where, except in a few rare instances, you wouldn't expect to notice battery life issues for at least 150K miles and 10 years. After that time, batteries will be a whole lot more plentiful and cheap. If replacements do become an issue, I'm sure cheaper after-market replacements will show up.
We've got an 03HCH with a manual transmission and we live up a very high hill so I suspect we'll see problems as soon as anyone since we stress the battery a lot.

Post a new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.