Hybrid Batteries

The Escape batteries (all 250 of them) are Nickel Metal Hydrides. They deep cycle very well and should last for many years. By the time we need any new ones, they will be inexpensive to replace. They are the size of a "D" cell (in bundles of 5).

Approximately 1.3 volts per cell or 6.5 volts per 5 pack.

NiMH is also the only type of battery which contains no toxic chemicals, and who's recycling and disposal is entirely unrestricted by the EPA because there is no potential for environmental damage. Lithium Ion would have higher energy per pound, but it's more expensive and contains toxins.

NiMH technology is still improving as we refine our ability to manufacture, charge, and discharge the cells at their peak efficiency. As vehicles themselves become more efficient (lighter components, lower drag) the gap between what electric assist and power demands will shrink. Some companies are also talking about fitting solar cells underneath large sunroofs so the battery can be topped off while parked in open sun, further improving efficiency.

Toyota claims they have yet to replace a battery pack in a Prius. I do know that when the technology was first made available the expectation was that NiMH batteries would only last for a few hundred cycles, but as the batteries have been in use it's being discovered they are far more durable than previously expected. There are some Priuses in British Columbia in taxi service with well over 100K miles that are still on their original batteries.

I've heard battery pack replacement rumours on the web range from $2,000 to over $9,000.

I believe it is around $3,500.

Honda's standard Hybrid warranty is 36,000 / 3 years on the drivetrain and 70,000 / 7 years battery. I've spent the extra $900 on an extended warranty which covers 7 years / 100,000 miles on the drivetrain and 10 years/150,000 battery.

I keep my cars for 10 years, and at that time I'll have about 300,000 miles on my HCH. I do expect the battery pack to go flat. What will I do then?

1. Drive the car with reduced performance.
2. Check junk yards for guaranteed used packs at a discount.
3. Since the pack consists of ~144 "D" size batteries it is feasable to replace only defective cells.
4. Buy a new pack. But this expense wouldn't make much sence with a high milage car.

Thanks,
Steve

Curiously enough, this information seems to be missing from one of the most common parts sites, www.hondaautomotiveparts.com, at least for the 2003 Insight, which I used as an example. Most of the hybrid related parts can be found under the "IMA" heading. Here's some example parts and their list price:

IMA Control Unit, Battery Electronic: $1557
IMA Control Unit, Motor Electronic: $707
Cable Assy, Motor PDU: $432
Board Assy, Junction: $1328
IMA Motor Stator Assy: $1030
IMA Motor Rotor Assy: $1221
PDU Module Set A, Intelligent Power: $1551
PDU Unit, Predriver: $450
PDU Converter, DC-DC: $1387

Now from the pictures on the site, they appeared to have a part number for the battery pack itself, but it was not in the table of pricing. Still, just the IMA-related items above total $9663. Granted, some of those items are very unlikely to break, but still, they are all items that don't exist at all on an all-gasoline Civic HX, for example, which you can buy for about $14,500 with A/C.

Photosmith, if you do the same thing with the regular gas version of the Civic you'll find the parts costs quickly will add up to much more than the purchase price of the car. It's the difference between "ala carte" and "full meal deal" pricing :-)

Also I'd bet many of the components you list replace other equally costly components in the conventional model...especially the computers...

Panasonic makes the batteries: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3306/is_2_114/ai_n6040887