Hybrids – Expected Battery Life

Manufacturers claim that their hybrid batteries will last the ‘life of the vehicle’. In Japan this is 8 years. In the US it is 9 years. This is the warranty given by the manufacturer on the hybrid battery.

In a hybrid vehicle when the battery dies the car does not work. It is scrap metal! To get it going again a new battery is required and this can cost between $6000 – $8000. This limitation means second hand value for the vehicle and is a serious drawback to wide acceptance of this technology.

What happens to someone who buys the vehicle at year 7? It could mean that he has use of the vehicle for 2 years and then have to write it off!! When they say life of vehicle they should mean “whole life” of the vehicle. 

With reconditioning and the Power Jockey we can guarantee that the hybrid battery with regular maintenance will last the “whole life” of the vehicle. This is because it enables a lower capacity battery pack to be used than is otherwise possible.

As of today, 1 November 2011, 13 years later, 1998 Prius are still operating with Power Jockeys  installed. They are sought after because they are low cost vehicle ( $6000 ), with fuel economy of around 20 Kms per litre ( 5 litres per 100 Kms ) and very low maintenance. It’s a guarantee that you won’t get a bill to fix the alternator, the clutch, the distributor because there are none!! The engine does not burn oil even after 200,000 Kms. I have never known the electric motor to burn out.

At the Battery Clinic we have been reconditioning hybrid batteries over the last 6 years. Initially we were reconditioning mainly Generation 1 Prius ( 1997 – 2000) batteries. However this year we are increasingly working of Generation 2 Prius (2000 – 2003 ) batteries.

This means that Generation 1 Prius still operating in New Zealand are running on batteries already 13 years old. This is only possible through our technology. We know that some of our earlier reconditioned batteries lasted as much as 3 years before failure set in. Since then we have introduced the Power Jockey and we believe that this period can be extended by another 1 to 2 years making it a possible 5 years of extended battery application life.

If the battery fails at year fifteen, the battery pack can still be repaired, which again further stretch the life of this hybrid battery. If this battery pack gets totally depleted we can use the generation 2 cells to rebuilt another battery pack for the generation 1.